A Tail of Three Festivals

Fall is here...cooler temperatures and a difference in festivals. Last year, Diane and Rick stumbled upon the Middlebury Fall Festival in Middlebury, Indiana. It was wonderful! The downtown area was packed with people, craft booths and FOOD! As it happens, D & R had company with them...the fat poodle Schnickers. Schnickers was on his leash and was very well behaved. He is a bit of a chicken and a MaMa's boy, and if anyone got too close, he would hide behind Diane's legs. Little children asked if they could pet him. For the most part, he would let people pet him, but he stayed awfully close to Diane. In the meantime, D & R went shopping! They sure took advantage of the craft booths and food booths. The beef and noodles were delicious, (or so I've been told. For some reason, my humans don't seem to feed me too often) and Diane bought her sister's Christmas gift, a welcome flag, and a Halloween decoration for her house. Total money spent: approximately $100.  A photographer even snapped a picture of my buddy Schnickers hiding behind his mommy's leg.

Fast forward to another festival...the Marshmallow Festival in Ligonier, Indiana, Labor Day weekend, 2012. Very light attendance. Of course, when one of the officials absconds with over $100,000 of festival money, it makes for a more tense situation. But, the dnrseekers (Diane, Rick and of course, Philbert the Phlamingo!) wanted to support the festival they have attended for years. As timing would have it, Schnickers was with them this time as well. Out of the car, and the "sniffs" were great. We headed for the food vendors, but stopped to get the free bag of marshmallows along the way. Outside the information tent where the marshmallows were, there was a sign that indicated no dogs and no skateboarding. So Diane had Rick stay outside the tent with Schnickers while she went in to snag the marshmallows. Immediately after, it was my turn to spring into action--my photo opportunity was calling--but we were asked to leave because of Schnickers. Turns out it wasn't just the tent--dogs weren't welcome anywhere at the festival.

Rather than take the great photo op, R & D decided to snap a quick photo with me on top of the sign...and then head for Auburn to the Aburn Cord Dusenburg festival. Ligonier doesn't have the only festival in Indiana on Labor Day weekend! As they were snapping an only so so picture of me, ANOTHER staff member asked us to leave because of Schnickers. Again, I only have a bird brain, but it seems odd that a leashed dog on a public street is not welcome. If it was inside the beer tent or where food was being served, it would be more understandable. So we left. Total money spend: $0.

Dnrseekers made it to Auburn in time for the parade. The attached photo is of me and my buddy Schnickers watching the parade.  Doesn't he look harmless?

 After the parade, we wandered around the courthouse square where these absolutely gorgeous, priceless, cars were parked. You would think the owners and festival organizers would be worried about dogs doing business on the tires, but there were lots and lots of dogs on leashes at this festival and no one seemed to care. Although D and R didn't do much shopping, they did indulge in an elephant ear.

I guess the moral of the story is--dog owners spend money. Most dog owners are responsible and know enough to keep their buddies under control when there are a lot of people around. If festival organizers want to keep attendance up, then they should be welcoming of leashed and well-behaved pets.