Lawn Fete Season

Lawn Fete season is big in the suburbs of Buffalo. Every weekend during the summer, there is a Lawn Fete (most other parts of the country know them as church picnics or carnivals) and they are much more than dinky cotton candy stands. They are almost a cult following (warped humor in that description as these fetes support local churches). But each of the parishes choose the same weekend every year and book the big name local bands.....and the crowds swarm. Yep, you can say the churches make their money on the beer sales! Aside from the beer tent/band, there is one form or another of gambling (aka "chance games"), chicken barbecues, carnival rides, etc. Pre-Madeline, David and I would occasionally head to a lawn fete, grab a beer, listen to a band and socialize with friends. Now, we still head to the lawn fetes but our experience is no longer a night out on the town. Now, the lawn fete experience is the trek through the midway and some kiddie games....while listening to the bang from afar.

Today, we caught a dinner at a local lawn fete, rode some rides and played some games of chance (Madeline won a goody bag!) As we left to go home at 7:50, I was crossing paths with the crowd coming in to her the band that started at 8pm. Oh....how times have changed! But, as you can see from the video below, we still had a great time. Here we are riding down the Giant Slide....sorry for the video quality - it was taken with my cell phone.