Cherry Festival

Jacob let me know that he wanted to go to the Cherry Festival in Beaumont, where he lives, before I picked him up last night. I agreed, thinking that it would not take that long. We arrived, paid to get in and soon found the Dominoes Pizza booth to get a slice of pizza for each of us. As I sat there I looked around at this slice of Americana, the slice of Cherry Festival at its best. Of course, then again, what was I to do, Jacob ran off and was visiting with friends.

Is life a bowl of cherries?

As the band was tuning their instruments, beating on the drums and doing microphone checks I noted the many families that were attending the festival. There were a few standouts. The first being a white male in his thirties with slightly long hair and a scruffy goatee. The bottom four inches of his goatee was died bright red. Of course that was not the first thing that caught my eye. It was the rattlesnake rattle dangling from his left ear. He made a couple of food stops and was off to the beer garden.

Jacob was still wandering about so I decided to determine what I should eat for dinner. There was an eclectic collection of food vendors as one can only imagine. I review what was around me, fish and chips, bratwurst, Chinese and other assorted carnival booth food. I finally settled on three beef tacos with cilantro onions and salsa. They were a little small, but they tasted great.

I met up with Jacob and his friends. We walked around for a little bit and mane our way over to the carnival area. I noted the local police generally gathered in groups of four. They did a lot of talking and standing around. Then again, the real crowds had not showed up yet.

There was also the “Dunk a City Employee” dunk tank. I know that some cities in California are having tough budget problems. I found this as a interesting approach to the problem. There were several times a short line formed to have the opportunity to dunk one of the employees.

As we made our way closer to the carnival rides we soon came to the Beaumont Community Command Center, a large motor home with pop outs. Outside of the command center were two older gentlemen. I presumed they were retired and part of some community police program. I came up to the table noting their paperweights placed on the coloring books. They offered me a paperweight if I had a need. Gun locks and coloring books is an interesting twist.

Coloring books and gun locks

Upon arrival to the carnival area, I sensed that I would purchase Jacob a wrist band and make another tour of the festival grounds. Jacob had met up with more friends in this area so I had a feeling it would be a while. I made my way back to the food area and purchased a bag of kettle corn. I sat as a table and munched kettle corn while typing away notes of my adventure at the Cherry Festival.

Jacob in line for a ride

As a side, have you ever tried to take a picture of a moving object with the digital camera on your phone? Jacob is upside down in the gondola on the right, in the front left seat.

Jacob upside-down - could be a dangerous place to take a picture

Soon it was time to wander again. I caught up with the cherry girls, cheerleaders from Beaumont High School and purchased a bag of cherries. I walked it to the car and made my way back to the carnival area. There were many more families and the occasional interesting person or group. Those that wanted to show that they were covered by tattoos on 80 percent or more of their bodies or those that just plain did not know how to dress.

I arrived in the carnival area, Jacob went on a couple more rides and we left the Beaumont Cherry Festival behind. It will always remain an interesting event. However, it will be placed above the Tamale Festival in Indio as an event to attend in the future.