Our small town takes a stand

Each summer, our local volunteer fire department has their lawn party fund raiser.  This past weekend was the time for this year.  The lawn party is similar to a fair, but on a smaller scale.  The MVFD has food booths, games, rides, etc.  It is a three day celebration/fundraiser which also includes a parade and fireworks.  The parade is held less than a mile from our house so we always walk down and watch it go by.  The children enjoy scrambling onto the pavement when each of the entries pass by throwing candy to the children watching.  They always bring home enough candy that we often give some away.  The past two or three years, Emily's softball team has had a "float" in the parade so we have enjoyed watching her go by as well.

Emily is the one in the orange shorts.  We could not find denim ones.

This year the parade was a little different than normal.  There were still the ball teams, the church organizations, the local pageant winners and campaign goers, but there were about 50 additional entries that made me realize my little town is pretty amazing!  There were many entries of vehicles carrying the confederate flag.  With the recent banning of the confederate flag and supposedly what it symbolized, back during the Civil War, has caused an insane banning of a flag that (in my opinion) has come to simply symbolize what it means to be a "good 'ol boy" or a " redneck."  Nothing more.  While I am not one to hang the confederate flag in my yard, I don't think it is necessary to take that right away from those who do.

The row of flags went on and on.  It was so neat!!  We also hit the lawn party on armband night.  And the fireworks are always able to be seen from our front yard.  It is always a fun time!

It's Lawn Party Time Again!!! YEA!

I am a lawn party addict. I love them! In a post last summer I explained our local custom of lawn parties (click on lawn parties in my labels). Last night was the first one of the season for me. They don't really start full force until summer actually starts, but some areas get theirs in earlier. Last night was the last night for the Elkton Fire Department Lawn Party. After having spent all day with us, Kara and her girls agreed to go with the kids and me to the lawn party last night since Mike could not go with us. The thing that I really love about this lawn party is the fireworks. There are other lawn parties that set off fireworks, but this one sets them off in a field and you park so close to the field where they are letting them off (not dangerously close) that you can actually see the people lighting them. We always get a good place to park so that when it is firework time, we can get our lawn chairs out and have a great view of both things. We ate dinner at the lawn party and we rode a few rides. Ryan rode his first roller coaster (small kiddie size) and loved it! All four kids rode the barrel of fun (we called it the cups) for the first time (well first time for my three anyway). The car they are in spins around while the entire ride spins around. Lydia HATED this one. She screamed "STOP SPINNING" the entire time she was riding. She never actually started crying, but when she got off she said "I don't like the cups!" After sharing some cotton candy and snow cones we headed out to watch the fireworks. They ended up starting late and the kids were tired so we decided to go ahead and go. As we were leaving they started so we pulled into a nearby street to watch them. It was a great view and we were inside the car so it was not as scary--well at least to Ryan and Lydia. After I heard them talking about the fireworks a little bit I turned to see if Emily was ok since she was not talking--it was then that I saw Cousin It (from the Adams Family) sitting in her seat. She had taken her blanked and put it over hear head. I asked her why she was covering her head with her blanket and she said "because the fireworks are too loud." I couldn't help but laugh. Best thing, from this street, I could still see the people setting the fireworks off. The pictures and movie are not very good--they were taken with my phone. In the roller coaster pictures, Ryan is in the first car.

Local Customs

The McGaheysville Lawn Party . . . best Lawn Party around. What is a lawn party you ask? . . . I don't really have a definition. I have found that Lawn Parites are not a "southern thing" or a "northern thing." I believe it is just a "Shenandoah Valley thing." Everyone I have ever met, that moves into this area (my parents included) have never heard of a Lawn Party. It must be a local thing. Whatever they are, I like them! Lawn Parties are a lot like the Fair. Two big differences . . . . it does not cost anything to get into a Lawn Party (only costs to eat the food or participate in the goings on) like it does a Fair and Lawn Parties are always planned for fundraising. The McGaheysville Lawn Party was created to raise money for the McGaheysville Volunteer Fire Department. Since we live in McGaheysville, what better place to go than somewhere that benefits our local fire department. I have always loved Lawn Parties and try to go to as many as I can every summer. I found out about a year or so ago that I get this trait from my father. He too LOVES Lawn Parties. My mother always goes with him and likes them ok, but goes for my Dad. Mike is kind of the same way, he likes them but probably would not go if I did not like them so much:). Like father like daughter!

This past Friday night Mike and I took the kids to the Fireman's Parade and then to the Lawn Party. The parade was terrific!! It is so close to our house that we are always able to walk to where the parade is being held. Lydia and Emily rode down to the parade in the wagon and Ryan walked, but the kids collected so much candy while watching the parade that we all had to walk back home:). The entire bottom of the wagon was covered with candy and Mike and I DID NOT PICK UP ANY CANDY this year. The kids did it all!! The parade is always really great. There are, of course, fire trucks from all different areas as well as Rescue Squads (this year one received a call right before the parade started--they had to leave), area car dealerships put one or two of their cars in the parade and you always see Miss Rockingham County as well as Little Miss Rockingham County adorning their crowns and riding on the firetrucks or on the back of a convertible. There are marching bands and tractor trailer rigs, motorcycles and muscle cars. And finally, bringing up the rear of the parade are about 8 - 10 men and women on horses. It is a great parade and people come from everywhere to see it! We always see all of our neighbors at the parade each year.

After walking home from the parade, we put the kids in the van and drove to the Lawn Party. The Lawn Party is pretty close and we would potentially walk there too (it is not as close as the parade), but we always come back after it is dark and walking with kids that late, in the dark, etc. just not safe. At the Lawn Party we met up with my Mom and Dad. They went with us while we took the kids on the merry-go-round and they all rode the flying elephants together. After that, we had enough tickets for two more people to go on a ride . . . rather than having a fight over what two kids were going to go, Mom took Lydia and Emily for a stroll and Mike took Ryan down the larger than life slide. The slide is HUGE and you slide down on smooth rugs. We bought the kids a bag of cotton candy and let them eat it while they watched some other children riding ponies. By that time it was almost 10:00 and everyone was ready for bed.

If you have never been to a Lawn Party, you must go to one!! Come visit us . . . we'll take ya!