Country Festival...

I have experienced festivals, and parade days, holidays and fairs through out my life both here and out west. However, there is something different about being a part of an annual event within an event. When I was young the girls and I would make yearly treks to different rodeos and events always with one goal in mind. To get into as much trouble have as much fun as possible in a brief time. These road trips would almost always include alcohol in copious amounts and late nights with little or no sleep. Sometimes we would have accommodations upon our arrival but many times we would just wing it and stay wherever.
As a married couple with small children we don't often go anywhere that is a kid free zone and we have almost never planned to be out till undetermined times multiple nights in a row.  This weekend was different. We attended the annual Pigs on the Porch party at the home of a friend's parents and were gone nearly all weekend off and on. The people we met were fabulous and we enjoyed wondering the festival a few blocks away and visiting with new and old friends in between. The affair was only one county over from home yet the difference in the people here was marked. Gone where the snotty reserved, judgmental cliquey, and status orientated people of home and instead there were open, friendly, fun loving people who didn't care about our my pedigree and community social status. This breath of fresh air has been one of my happy times here and I hope that they will have us back again soon.