Hibiscus Festival

This is a huge citywide event that comes to town once a year and lasts for a whole week! The first week we were here we noticed lots of amusement rides and vendor booths being set up in the large downtown park... I think it is called Albert Park. There are signs and advertisements everywhere. Right now all the kids are on a 2 week break from school so this is the perfect place to spend a few hours or a couple of days. It is very similar to a State Fair. We decided we better head on down so we could get in on the excitement.

Crowds and crowds of people were enjoying themselves. We just mostly walked around and people-watched. That was the best entertainment for us. First we walked through the amusement rides. Now I love a fun-filled day at Lagoon on the ferris wheel and the bumper cars and the roller coasters but there was NO WAY I was going to risk my life on one of these brought-in, "tinker-toy" looking rides! I was just hoping none of the rides would crumble down in front of our eyes! The locals sure were enjoying the high risk, however!

There were craft booths with lots of handmade items for sale. Things like woven baskets, wood carvings, jewelry and to my delight and surprise, even some quilts! They were actually just quilt tops since a quilt over here does not need batting. That would be way too hot. They were very simple but very colorful.

They had a mini Las Vegas going on where people were playing these board games. The people would put coins down on certain squares and then the "dealer"-guy would put a couple dice in a plastic cup, shake it up and roll it out and I guess if your coin was on the winning square, you would win some money. I never did see anyone win but people just kept putting down coins. I guess gambling is the same everywhere!

The most interesting part of the event for me to check out was the food vendors. Lots and lots of booths with really unique, unfamiliar to us for the most part food items. We stuck with brightly colored, sugar-coated popcorn and candy cotton, which is called "floss" over here. That was our outing for last Saturday. This Saturday, which is today, will be the last day of the festival and there is supposed to be a huge parade with floats and a Hibiscus Festival Queen contest. We may get brave and go down again and check that out as well. Some of our friends went to the talent portion of the Queen competition last week one night. They were fascinated with the unique "talents" that were displayed. The very first contestant did CPR as her talent! Too bad we missed that!

(Be sure to click on the individual photos for closer-up viewing!)