The home for people looking for fun in Northern Michigan
Venetian Festival 2008...and of course it wouldn't be Northern Michigan without a bit of rain!
This past weekend my partner in green and I ventured to the land of petunias, known as Charlevoix. The 78th annual Venetian Festival was the destination of choice for the Party Crew, and boy did it turn out to be an interesting one at that.
The streets were packed with drivers fighting for the last of the available parking spaces, of which I managed to find one only two blocks from the bridge, Malynda on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. So, as I waited on a park bench for Malynda to find a parking spot I encountered our first speed bump of the night…the camera battery was dead! So dead that the digital screen didn’t even flash when I switched the camera on, and of course neither of us had our own personal cameras with us that night so we resorted to running to the drug store to pick up a disposable one to get us through the night. You can’t believe how professional we felt (insert sarcasm) with our disposable camera snapping shots while various local reporters and photographers had the luxury of their handy dandy digital zoom and multi megapixel cameras. I can’t even remember the last time I used a disposable camera let alone a camera that wasn’t digital. But we made due!
The various carnival rides and games were the biggest attractions for the younger generations, while most of the lets say “matured” generation found the performers and vendors to be a bit more of their “cup of tea”.
After wandering and mingling for about half an hour we headed down to the Venetian Queen Coronation ceremony to get a few shots of the court while the dark clouds allowed us. Low and behold as soon as we reached the waterfront the downpour began. For the next half hour or so Malynda and I dodged from one awning to the next talking to those hiding from the rain and trying to get people to allow us to take their picture. Unfortunately, too many of them were worried about their rain-soaked appearances and declined the photo-op. So, we gave up for a bit and agreed that ice cream sounded like a great solution for waiting out the rain. Finally after another half hour and the last bites of our delicious treats the rain let up enough to allow us to retreat from our hiding. With time winding down on our Party Crew night we decided to finish up back at the Venetian Queen Coronation Ceremony that had started back up. Those few who had stuck it out through the rain joined us in the park to see the crowning.
It was an interesting night, with a few setbacks but we hung in there and did our thing. Hopefully next time the weather and camera with both decide to cooperate with us better!
Our next Party Crew Event will be August 9th at Riverfest in Alanson. There will be lots to do and see for everyone, including boat and motorcycle shows, watermelon seed spitting contests, the Huck Finn River Boat Race, an Art and Craft Fair, band performances, and many fun activities at the Family Fun Tent.
The next weekend after that, August 16th is the Festival on the Bay at the Petoskey Waterfront. This is always a great event to attend because there is so much going on all day and through the night Friday and Saturday!
The streets were packed with drivers fighting for the last of the available parking spaces, of which I managed to find one only two blocks from the bridge, Malynda on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. So, as I waited on a park bench for Malynda to find a parking spot I encountered our first speed bump of the night…the camera battery was dead! So dead that the digital screen didn’t even flash when I switched the camera on, and of course neither of us had our own personal cameras with us that night so we resorted to running to the drug store to pick up a disposable one to get us through the night. You can’t believe how professional we felt (insert sarcasm) with our disposable camera snapping shots while various local reporters and photographers had the luxury of their handy dandy digital zoom and multi megapixel cameras. I can’t even remember the last time I used a disposable camera let alone a camera that wasn’t digital. But we made due!
The various carnival rides and games were the biggest attractions for the younger generations, while most of the lets say “matured” generation found the performers and vendors to be a bit more of their “cup of tea”.
After wandering and mingling for about half an hour we headed down to the Venetian Queen Coronation ceremony to get a few shots of the court while the dark clouds allowed us. Low and behold as soon as we reached the waterfront the downpour began. For the next half hour or so Malynda and I dodged from one awning to the next talking to those hiding from the rain and trying to get people to allow us to take their picture. Unfortunately, too many of them were worried about their rain-soaked appearances and declined the photo-op. So, we gave up for a bit and agreed that ice cream sounded like a great solution for waiting out the rain. Finally after another half hour and the last bites of our delicious treats the rain let up enough to allow us to retreat from our hiding. With time winding down on our Party Crew night we decided to finish up back at the Venetian Queen Coronation Ceremony that had started back up. Those few who had stuck it out through the rain joined us in the park to see the crowning.
It was an interesting night, with a few setbacks but we hung in there and did our thing. Hopefully next time the weather and camera with both decide to cooperate with us better!
Our next Party Crew Event will be August 9th at Riverfest in Alanson. There will be lots to do and see for everyone, including boat and motorcycle shows, watermelon seed spitting contests, the Huck Finn River Boat Race, an Art and Craft Fair, band performances, and many fun activities at the Family Fun Tent.
The next weekend after that, August 16th is the Festival on the Bay at the Petoskey Waterfront. This is always a great event to attend because there is so much going on all day and through the night Friday and Saturday!
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