Fun Summertime activities for the family

[Too Tall]

First up: The Oliver Hardy Festival
http://community-2.webtv.net/starboardtac/OliverHardyfestival/

[BumbleBeeDave]

http://www.gilroygarlicfestival.com/

BBDave

[Bruce K]

Ohmygawd Dave -

I have actually been to the Gilroy Garlic Festival years ago when Jesse attended Aviation Challenge in California as a way to kill a day.

"Small town" events like these are just the best.

Keep 'em coming.

BK

[Too Tall]

OK Dave, I was saving this one but you came up with something good so I give you the stinkiest and most Maryland of all food festivals RAMPS!!!

http://www.richwooders.com/ramp/ramps.htm

Don't eat them and talk to anyone for a week. Sukr's invade every inch of your soul.

[OldDog]

Good food and tomato fights!
http://www.pittstontomatofestival.com/

Also do a google for the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival held in May and August. Close for you Marylanders.

[Birddog]

Top this for family fun!
http://www.okienoodling.com/

Birddog

[davids]

Nothing beats this: Family Camp (http://www.medomakcamp.com/camp/index.html). Nothing!

[William]

Also do a google for the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival held in May and August. Close for you Marylanders.

Any festival where banjo's are going to be played will be a fun time. :banana: Of course this excludes any un-expected backwoods encounters with banjo pickin Hillbillies when you're on a canoe trip. :eek:

Pickin & a Ginnin William :D

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . happening THIS weekend!

http://www.whatsonwhen.com/events/~69722.jml

I did a photo page on this one while working at the Tulsa Tribune years ago . . . Handle snakes with their mouths sewn shut! Rattlesnake steaks! See a whole glassful of venom milked from snakes in the show! See guy zipped into sleeping bag full of rattlers! Can he get out alive? Buy your own stuffed rattler!

It's even more dangerous than disagreeing with The Jerk about stem length! Can you imagine THAT? . . . ;)

And it's happening NOW! THIS weekend! Yeee-OW! :banana: :banana: :banana:

BBDave

[sspielman]

In neighboring Dorchester county there is an event known as the "Outdoors Show". This is an event not to be missed as it includes the "International Muskrat Skinnin' Contest" (liberties taken with the spellin' despite the quotes)....also not to be missed is the crowning of "Miss Outdoors"-formerly known as the "Muskrat Queen"....It was the first time in my life that I ever heard of a beauty queen who answered to the nickname "Hoss"....

[OldDog]

Berlin Fiddle Fest in September. We usally spend a week on the eastern shore every September, kayaking the bays and tandeming the backroads. Love it. This will be the first in 12 years we are not planning on coming down. But that can change...

[Tom]

Get a milk can. You know, the old metal cans with the friction fit top, goes about 15 gallons or so. They might be tough to find these days but if you look around in frou-frou country "Antique Shoppes" you might find a beat up one you can buy for cheap.

Order about 15 pounds of calcium carbide from some place like Casco Carbide (I swear, I have nothing to do with them, don't know anyone there, don't knowingly have a financial interest with them. You'll see why...)

Get a small section of rope, securely tie the can top to the handle of the can. Drill a small hole in the can about four inches up on one side. Get a stick longer than the rope and tie some rags to the end of it.

The carbide arrives! Oh happy day!

Wait until night. Get a pail of water and pour it into the can. Pour some of the carbide into the can. Put the top on. Wait a few minutes.

Light the rags, give the stick to your kid and tell them to stay outside the radius of the rope and touch the hole in the can. Oh, the madcap fun that ensues!

The optional accessory is the huge piece of boiler plate you hide behind in case the can isn't structurally sound.

Tomorrow's feature: Black Powder Cannons and the Vermont hill dwellers that love them.

Fourth of July used to be a lot of fun...

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . you actually did this when you were a kid?

THAT explains a lot . . . :rolleyes: :eek:

BBDave

[M_A_Martin]

Where's Chunk666 when you need him?

[OldDog]

C'mon kids, dad has some salt peter, sulfer, charcoal and a load of fertilizer.. :eek:

How about some real family fun: www.letourdefrance.com (gotta keep this cycling related :)

[William]

What about the old Polish* cannon? Any one ever make one? Of course that was when you could use metal tennis ball cans. Metal soda cans also worked.
Then there was the Co2 cartriges, solid fuel rocket engines, water proof fuse/wick (BB's optional).

Bottle rocket wars.

Pineapples/M80's

Oh the fun when we were kids! :D :banana: I'm forming an idea for a new festival..... ;) :D ;)

William

*No offense meant toward persons of Polish persuasion. That's what they were called. :confused:

[Too Tall]

Dang that's alot to take in you guys know a fun time when you see it :) OMG I LOVE the tomatoe fight. My niece goes to a small town in Spain every year for a similar event. She says it is insane and very very fun...imagine old ladies stuffing tomatoe into each other's hair and pants!!!! She says the local fire company literally hoses down the people and the town square once it is all done.

Banjo Festival, Ramps, Food fight...I'm like a kid in a candy store :) Yippeee.

[Too Tall]

More fun!

Internet Radio - "Cowboy Cultural Society"

*I use "itunes" to get my music streams. What a great thing :)

[OldDog]

There's talk of reviving the crit at the Pittston Tomato Fest this August. Should it still materialize I'll let you guys know. Nice area around here for a weekend of riding and the fest has some great food.

OD