Small Town Harvest Celebration

The air smells of autumn and crop harvesting is well under way.  This time of the year also means celebrating the harvest for our small town.

It starts out with a parade in the late morning.

The kids are excited because they know that this particular parade means getting a lot of candy.

As with every year, the parade begins with police cars and fire trucks.  Jed and some of the other soldiers were asked to lead it this year....they all declined.  Jed didn't want the spotlight and attention....besides, these soldiers had only been home from Iraq for a few days and so there is still much adjusting going on for them.

I didn't mind helping Rigdon get some of the candy that was being thrown out, especially when I know I'll be sneaking a few pieces later.  :)

Meanwhile, Rigdon was getting a kick out of all the candy he was finding.

Those firetrucks are soooo loud.

Rigdon still gathering.

Both Connor and Aubrey were in the parade this year, playing their instruments.  Connor's Strings Class has only had a few weeks of playing time but they sounded great!  They did a fiddling song so they all got to dress up "western-like."

Connor was happy and proud to be wearing his dad's calvary hat for the parade.

Mr. Potato came around shaking hands too...Rigdon didn't like him too much and hid behind Jeds' legs. 

Aubrey's band class was the last entry of the parade.

Ronin gave her a high five as she marched past.

Later on, Connor and Ronin wanted to try a few fun things out.  Connor chose rock climbing.

Ronin opted for the inflatable slides.

Meanwhile, Connor made it to the top a few times.

My favorite part of the day - the "Spud Tug."

Spud Tug is where teams compete with a rope tug-o-war over a pit of sloppy mashed potatoes.  Yep, runny mashed potatoes mixed up and poured by a cement truck.

 
The recently crowned Miss Russett opens up the competition by tasting the potato mush to make sure it's ready.  This year was unique when she actually got in it to taste it, much to the delight of the crowd.

Let the Spud-Tug begin!!!!

Of course the best part is when the losing team falls into the pit and gets all messy.

The adult teams are the most fun to watch. 

If you'll notice, Moses Kinikini from the last season of The Biggest Loser was on this team.  They won their first match but lost their second.

It's safe to say that the most favorite team of all are the LDS Missionaries, they always get the loudest cheers from the crowd.  They compete every year and usually win the entire competition.

This year, they won their first match but lost their second round, bummer.  But it's great to see them get messy in their nice dress clothes.  :)

What the crowd loves to see - someone totally sopped with mashed potatoes. 

The boys favorite bought item of the day:

This should keep them occupied for quite some time....hopefully without hitting anybody else in the process.

A fun day.   The end. :)