Grape Festival, Day 3

Saturday, July 28:

Up at 7:30, and had more breakfast breads and fruits for breakfast. Once we were ready for the day, we went to the festival. Arrived there around 9:30, in time to watch our state's attorney general participate in a grape stomping event. He was accompanied by an entourage of state and local police, as well as bodyguards. He didn't win the grape stomp.

Sis and Nephew arrived shortly after we got to the festival. It was an incredibly hot day, around 106 degrees we learned later, but we toughed it out, because we wanted to see Daughter compete in a grape stomp at 12:30. She had registered for the event yesterday.

We listened to local bands, and watched a grape pie eating, and Bacchus look-alike contest, but Hubbie, Daughter, and I declined sampling wines in favor of swilling water and cones of shaved ice. Sis, however, did sample a fruit wine.

Mother cooled off with a dish of soft-serve ice cream, as well as two pop ices that were given to her by firemen, who were passing them out to children and older folks to help keep them hydrated. A local politician provided hand fans, and we picked up a few. They helped.

Besides the heat, a further disincentive to wine sampling was the fact that visitors were required to buy a $3 wine glass, and then pay an additional $3 to $5 for a full glass. One could only sample a small amount of a single wine selection, rather than sampling several selections, as has been allowed in the past.

Other changes to the festival included the fact that neither the prison band, nor the polka band performed, and there were no prizes for event contests...only certificates were awarded. Which is what Daughter received when she competed in and won the grape stomping event. This year, too, a Lady Bacchus look-alike contest was added.

The stomp was a little late getting started...closer to 1 p.m. than 12:30, since event organizers were awaiting the local priest to show up for the blessing of the vines. When he didn't arrive, the stomp proceeded.

After that, we hurried back to camp to cool off under air conditioning, and have a sandwich lunch. Mother laid down for a nap then, and the rest of us headed back to the festival area. We weren't interested in attending the festival, however. Sis wanted to visit a winery to get this year's festival wine. But they were out of it.

So we went to another winery for wine tastings. This winery does not charge to sample, or at least they didn't this year. We had sampled on Thursday and bought a case of their three most recent varieties, all of which are delicious. Sis bought one bottle of each.

The winery also had a couple of varieties of table grapes for sale, one of which is very nice, though not as good as the Reliance grapes. They are good enough, though, that we bought a couple of pounds of them, as did Sis.

Sis and Nephew left after this, on their two-hour trip back home. Hubbie, Daughter, and I did some more touring. First stop, the little museum in this town, which is housed in a corner area of an old building across from the city park where the festival is held.

The museum exhibits center on coal mining history, which was the leading industry of the area early on. Lots of miners died in mining accidents, and many others died of black lung disease. A monument featuring a coal miner statue and four marble pillars with the names of deceased miners engraved on them is a focal point of the city park.

The museum is now in the process of raising funds for the construction of a large brass eagle to be mounted on the other side of the park, as the center of a veterans memorial, which also features marble blocks with the names of the fallen etched on them.

The museum staff were proud to emphasize that all funding for the eagle will be from private donations...nothing from the government, because, "we want no strings attached to it."

After that, we went in search of a dam site overlook. I'd seen it on a sign earlier in the day, and wanted to explore it. We first visited the dam, where a yellow and red tug boat rested, waiting for its next assignment. I love tugs, and took several snapshots of it.

We traveled from there up a winding road to the top of the hill, where there is a nice, quiet picnic park, and an overlook viewing area. From here, there is a spectacular view of the the dam, with the lake above, and river below. I'm surprised we haven't discovered this area before in the years we've visited for the festival.

We stayed at the overlook until sunset, so I could take pictures. It was a lovely sight. It was hot at the overlook, but not as hot as at the campground.

We were back at camp by around 8 p.m., where we hit the shower, and then played a couple of games of Skipbo. This time, Hubbie and Sis each won one.

It had been a long, very hot, day, and we were plenty ready for bed.