DMan squired four ladies -- me, my bestie, my niece Jayde, and my aunt Peg who came in all the way from Kansas City -- in the Cardinal-mobile (his Trailblazer is so decked out in Cardinal's bling you'd think he works for them!) to the Republic Kiwanis Fall Festival last night. And did it feel like fall! Usually it's hot as blazes during the festival, but those of us in shorts had goosies before the night was over.
Of course we headed to the bingo pavilion the first thing, 'cause bingo is the main reason I like to go. And . . . NO BINGO! No ball caller, no oldsters in change aprons selling bingo cards that have been around since I was a baby, no calls of "B-12" over the scratchy PA system. Nada. Just a piece of paper stapled to the uprights saying the Kiwanis/City of Republic (I'll bet there's a lot of blame-throwing going on between those two!) did not get the required state permit in time to have bingo this year. Damn! We were all so disappointed. I am not a lucky person, but somehow I usually manage to win at least one bingo pot and hauling away that $18.50 (or whatever paltry sum I won) always felt like a million bucks. They promised next year bingo would be back, and I'm gonna raise cain if they don't come through.
What else to do with all those queen candidate tickets I bought but play the cake walk, right? Besides bingo, that is the ultimate Fall Festival treat: stumbling over cracked concrete squares to the tune of "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang with the heady smell of brownies and cake (baked by good Christian women!) in the air in the hopes the music will stop when you are teetering on the magic number that gets called! And we were victorious!! Bestie won first, a pan of Rice Krispie treats, which she generously donated to DMan who was already drooling at the sight of them. Then Peg and I both won and chose German chocolate cakes. It didn't hurt that at least one time we were the only four doing the cake walk. That helped our odds considerably.
Fair food was a must to squelch our bingo blues. DMan, Bestie, and I opted for corn dogs (the crust was a might mushy, but we ate every bite); Peg had the BBQ pulled pork plate; we shared fried Oreos (dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried -- almost too sweet for human consumption. Almost.) and fried green beans (which tasted suspiciously like cat fish since they were coated in the same corn meal as the cat fish they were selling, and probably cooked in the same grease, too). Even if we weren't afraid of hurling up all our fair food, we opted not to partake of the rides, which looked like they were only being held together by what was left of the original paint and lots of rust. But a lot of folks did ride, the lines were long with sugar-fueled kiddos and teeny-boppers making out in the magical glow of the carnival lights. The Kiwanians vow to hold the event later next year in order to hire a different carnival group to do the rides, so maybe there's a MoMo the Monster or Tilt-a-Whirl yet in my Fall Festival future. I do miss having my hair stand on end and squealing uncontrollably to the ear-shattering blast of "I Love Rock and Roll" while being thrown about like a rag doll for the bargain price of $5!
We clustered up in the bleachers to keep warm and listen to cover tunes performed by Soul Witness, a group from the Hood Methodist Church that morphed into a secular band for the evening. They did a pretty good job, too, and had quite a crowd (for Republic) singing along to classics from Chicago, The Police, Kansas, and even Styx (who knew "Fooling Yourself" could be done acoustically, but it can?!). They had an awesome fiddle player -- that seemed even more awesome when they announced he was playing with a broken wrist! -- who gave the band a totally unique sound. By the last song, we were chilled to the bone and satiated with Fall Festival fun, so we hauled our cake walk cache to the Cardinal-mobile and headed home.
A fun, even though bingoless, Friday night adventure was had by all. And there's still time to catch some Fall Festival frivolity for yourself tonight! Set your GPS for Republic, Missouri, and get your adventure on! (Yay, I didn't forget to bring my camera this time!)
Of course we headed to the bingo pavilion the first thing, 'cause bingo is the main reason I like to go. And . . . NO BINGO! No ball caller, no oldsters in change aprons selling bingo cards that have been around since I was a baby, no calls of "B-12" over the scratchy PA system. Nada. Just a piece of paper stapled to the uprights saying the Kiwanis/City of Republic (I'll bet there's a lot of blame-throwing going on between those two!) did not get the required state permit in time to have bingo this year. Damn! We were all so disappointed. I am not a lucky person, but somehow I usually manage to win at least one bingo pot and hauling away that $18.50 (or whatever paltry sum I won) always felt like a million bucks. They promised next year bingo would be back, and I'm gonna raise cain if they don't come through.
What else to do with all those queen candidate tickets I bought but play the cake walk, right? Besides bingo, that is the ultimate Fall Festival treat: stumbling over cracked concrete squares to the tune of "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang with the heady smell of brownies and cake (baked by good Christian women!) in the air in the hopes the music will stop when you are teetering on the magic number that gets called! And we were victorious!! Bestie won first, a pan of Rice Krispie treats, which she generously donated to DMan who was already drooling at the sight of them. Then Peg and I both won and chose German chocolate cakes. It didn't hurt that at least one time we were the only four doing the cake walk. That helped our odds considerably.
Fair food was a must to squelch our bingo blues. DMan, Bestie, and I opted for corn dogs (the crust was a might mushy, but we ate every bite); Peg had the BBQ pulled pork plate; we shared fried Oreos (dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried -- almost too sweet for human consumption. Almost.) and fried green beans (which tasted suspiciously like cat fish since they were coated in the same corn meal as the cat fish they were selling, and probably cooked in the same grease, too). Even if we weren't afraid of hurling up all our fair food, we opted not to partake of the rides, which looked like they were only being held together by what was left of the original paint and lots of rust. But a lot of folks did ride, the lines were long with sugar-fueled kiddos and teeny-boppers making out in the magical glow of the carnival lights. The Kiwanians vow to hold the event later next year in order to hire a different carnival group to do the rides, so maybe there's a MoMo the Monster or Tilt-a-Whirl yet in my Fall Festival future. I do miss having my hair stand on end and squealing uncontrollably to the ear-shattering blast of "I Love Rock and Roll" while being thrown about like a rag doll for the bargain price of $5!
We clustered up in the bleachers to keep warm and listen to cover tunes performed by Soul Witness, a group from the Hood Methodist Church that morphed into a secular band for the evening. They did a pretty good job, too, and had quite a crowd (for Republic) singing along to classics from Chicago, The Police, Kansas, and even Styx (who knew "Fooling Yourself" could be done acoustically, but it can?!). They had an awesome fiddle player -- that seemed even more awesome when they announced he was playing with a broken wrist! -- who gave the band a totally unique sound. By the last song, we were chilled to the bone and satiated with Fall Festival fun, so we hauled our cake walk cache to the Cardinal-mobile and headed home.
A fun, even though bingoless, Friday night adventure was had by all. And there's still time to catch some Fall Festival frivolity for yourself tonight! Set your GPS for Republic, Missouri, and get your adventure on! (Yay, I didn't forget to bring my camera this time!)
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| DMan, Roni, and Bestie, post-corn dogs. |
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| Jayde, Daddy, and Mama. |
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| Roni and Aunt Peg -- go Chiefs!! |
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| Me and Bestie, trolling for Fire Fighters -- she does love a man in uniform, so I'm not sure why I'm the one that is posing like a floosie! |
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| Me and DMan on the cake walk. |
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| Soul Witness |
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| DMan, me and Peg keeping warm and grooving to the music! |
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| Me and Bestie being our usual rowdy gal selves! |
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