Tomorrow kicks off the beginning of our town's late summer festival. There will be a carnival, parades, outhouse races, a strawberry shortcake social, library book sale, tours of local historical buildings, outdoor concerts, a demolition derby, an arm wrestling tournament..... I could go on and on. It sounds like fun, doesn't it? I wish it did to me.
Let me share some of my most vivid memories of festivals past.
- About 8 years ago a bus pulled up to the curb along the street that borders our backyard. Six or seven drunk men got out and used our shrubs for a toilet. We had to call the police.
- Seven years ago the birdseed was emptied from my bird feeder and replaced with empty beer bottles.
- Six years ago empty liquor bottles were thrown onto the sidewalk next to our house from a car parked in the street. When I asked them to pick the bottles up and dispose of them elsewhere, they swore and spit out the window at me.
- Five years ago we were sitting in the backyard watching a movie on our outdoor screen when a man wandered in the yard to have a closer look. We wouldn't have minded if he had not been smoking a joint at the time. We asked him to leave and he did.
- Four years ago people parked their cars at the base of our driveway, blocking about half of it.
- Three years ago our flower beds were trampled by people cutting through our yard to attend a party at another house in our neighborhood.
- Two years ago a group of boys chased my son and his girlfriend with chairs and baseball bats because my son got some colored hair spray on one of them (kids around here spray their hair crazy colors for the festival).
- Last year and every year I found trash in our yard.
These are the things I think of when I think of the festival along with deadlocked traffic, parked cars along every inch of our street, loud music and noise until 3:00 am and intoxicated people wandering around the neighborhood. This is a small town and we don't usually have problems like this, but the festival seems to bring in people who like to make trouble.
Call me a party pooper, but I can't wait until it's over.
10 comments:
Egads! You need to hire an off duty police officer to patrol the grounds. Can you put orange cones along your drive? I'd be a party pooper too if those things happened to me! Jeesh!
It's always those one or two...or a hundred bad apples that ruin all the fun! :(
I don't blame you one bit. Make sure this year, someone doesn't decide to skinny dip in your pool!
You crazy small town people! That is how it is all summer long on Cape Cod! We look forward to the off-season for peace and quiet and no traffic!
Ouch, I totally feel your pain. Our last house was on a very busy street, not really a residential area, and very close to the downtown area and a large funeral home. Any time there was a festival downtown or a big funeral, our street was jammed, we had no street parking, there would be trash on our yard, and several times we had to chase drunks off of our porch. I would recommend going to the city's next council meeting and making your problems known, I finally did and more police were brought in for future festivals.
Wow, that is insane. You need a TALL wall or something. I hope it's not to bad this year :)
ok I have to ask... what the heck is an outhouse race? : P
sorry you guys have to deal with the drunks and shenanagins! I wouldn't like that either... how long does it last?
Sounds like torture! Come over here and we can watch movies in the barn, the door locks :^)
It really did sound like fun until:
Strange drunk men...I don't like them peeing in my bushes or anywhere I can see them pee. Yech!
Maybe your mayor or local governing body should reenact prohibition for the length of the festival! lol Of course, some business people would never go along with that.
Actually as I continued to read the list, I started to prefer the drunk men & those under the influence of alcohol and pot. The people who blocked your driveway, trampled your flowers, chased your son with a baseball bat and threw trash in your yard should be thrown in jail. There's no excuse for behavior like that.
This reminds a little bit of the discussion my husband and I had about why the phenomenon of Woodstock wouldn't work today. Neighbors and people from surrounding towns can't even be trusted during your town's festival. It's sad.
I don't call you a party pooper, that's a lot of aggravation to put up with - A LOT.
Hang in there, Willoughby! And I agree with Purple Flowers, guard your pool!
Amy :o)
What a shame that those inconsiderate morons ruin for you what sound like a really fun carnival. Good luck this year!
I am curious what an outhouse race is too!
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