Saturday, September 23, 2006
Hootin' and Hollerin'Today is the day of Hootin' and Hollerin' in Gainesville, Missouri. I'm not going down there but my kids went. (We've done it every year for years.)
It's raining here, so it didn't sound like a great time to be at a festival.
You're missin' it, though, and I thought you should know that you're missing out on, not only HOG calling, but HUSBAND calling, too. Yep. Just the way someone yells SUEEEEEE for a pig to come to them--there's women down there hollerin' all sorts of things trying to get their husbands to come from the crowd--getting judged on their technique and ear piercing capabilities.
Another competition they have is crowning a girl--usually NOT the prettiest one in town--that dresses like a pioneer and gives the craziest speech. It's gotta talk about bein' poor and barefoot, and havin' no runnin' plumbin' and stuff like that. Funny stuff...cause it is SERIOUS business. Girls train for months to get their monologues down, and costumes together. Blacked out teeth and pigtails are a big plus to the judges.
Oh, yeah. And as I type this, the outhouse races are running. I'm not kidding. They have portable wood shack outhouses WITH A SEAT HOLE--somebody has to sit on that while the rest of the team lifts, hoists, and runs and pushes it to the finish line--which is a dandy run all the way around the courthouse.
And then, of course, is the parade of all parades...the hour and a half line-up of tractors from all over the county.
This festival is outdone by only one other festival, as far as I know. Over the border in Yellville...or is that Flippin? Arkansas. You have to go through one to get to the other. Anyhow, they drop real live hen turkeys from a chopper. The critters are banded on the legs with cash. All day long, you see kids with turkeys under their arms.
They have a butcher with a truck where you can drop your turkey--and pick it up in a freezer ready state a week later.
And there you can get some serious old time religion. There is always a preacher in standard historical dress expounding from the steps of the courthouse. The cops run him off, but that's just fun to watch. They can't arrest him for expressing his religious vows, even if he's pointing and screaming, "You, Sir! Are a sinner! Repent. Repent saith the lord!"
The gazebo there goes full time with some country pickers. Nose and banjo, whatever...if ya look like you're from the salvation army, you can go up there and join in.
Got any fun festivals in your neck of the woods?
5 Comments:
Did you grow up in Butler, or just light there a spell?
And how'd ya end up in WV?
I had an aunt that used to live down there by the beach. We went crabbing one morning--that I'll never forget. My cousins tied chicken necks to strings and tossed those out into the water. A few minutes later, they pulled the crabs in. TOO EASY.
I felt really bad when they dropped them, live, into the boiling water...but amazed when they turned from white to red--dead, of course.
Took me years to get the smell of them cooking out of my head.
Funny how little mentions bring back whole memories, huh?
By 
CarysWeldonblog, at
7:53 AM
We don't have any festivals like that that I know of (there's a pretty big fall fair in the next town over from my hometown, but I haven't been to it in 15 years or so). There's a small, free music festival here tomorrow in honour of Rivers Day which I'm hoping to go to if it doesn't rain.
Where's here? I like free music festivals.
By CarysWeldonblog, at
11:49 PM
Prince George, BC.
I went. It was a beautiful day, and a lot of fun, but I was surprised at how few people showed up. And it was a long walk home. The buses only run for a few hours in the middle of the day on Sundays.
