When Namine was at Team Up Camp this year, we saw a sign on the park grounds advertising Fall Fest. Not knowing what precisely it was, but knowing that we do love Fall as well as fest(ival)s, we thought we’d come back and check it out. It was, overall, very fun. It was not, unfortunately, totally accessible.
One thing you can count on in Wisconsin, whenever farmers markets are involved, is honey. It is now getting pretty late in the season, being the end of September, but those bees are still turning their spit into something delicious. We couldn’t say no to some honey sticks, plus a honey bear for our tea.
We saw a couple people standing around by a horse, and that piqued our interest so we went over to say hi. It turned out that the horse, one Derek Bromac N by name, was a former race horse. Derek is retired now, but he still travels the country with his owner, Amber Sawyer, to share his story.
Amber had at their table copies of Derek’s story, which she had published in a children’s book. We bought a copy for Namine, and Amber signed it: “To Namine, from your friends Amber Sawyer and Derek.”
Something that also caught our interest was the offer of potatoes: the fest had a place where people could pick their own. There was a hay ride that took people there, but I couldn’t carry Namine up the steps into the carriage. A volunteer informed us that there was a spot closer to the potatoes where we could park, so we drove there to check it out.
Once we had parked at the second location, we discovered that it was still quite a ways to the potato plants — nearly a mile over a gravel trail in one direction. With no carriage to take us, we opted to not attempt the trek. We had, however, seen a sign on our drive in advertising “duck races” in a nearby barn. Namine and I headed inside to check it out.
We did not find any ducks or races. Instead, we found a station where people could make their own twine ropes. A volunteer hooked up three separate strands, while the individual (Namine, in this case) turned the crank to join the strands. The crank got harder to turn as the rope was wound together. As it was especially difficult with how high it was for Namine to reach, I helped her as the rope neared completion.
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