We'll celebrate darn near anything...

Saturday we proved that we are willing to celebrate just about anything as long as there is a parade and a party. The town of Urbanna (about 10 minutes from our house) literally closes down for 3 days each fall to celebrate the charismatic Oyster.

In all seriousness it is a great festival that draws tens of thousands of people to this small town to celebrate the important but dieing seafood industry that was the lifeblood of so many small towns along the Bay. Well truth be told, most people simply come to celebrate, oysters or not ... the only real tie-in to the seafood industry that created this festival can be found in the massive quantities of the tasty mollusks that get consumed.

Well this was Sequoia's first parade ... first of many, I should say since her mom absolutely loves parades. They put on a big parade that is quintessentially small town America - high school bands, local businesses, local gymnastic troupes and a variety of "celebrities" many of whom I had never heard of before. Our favorite was Miss Oyster Shucking Champion 2008 - a very prestigious accomplishment around here.

I always enjoy watching the classic cars roll by since in the back of my mind I keep telling myself I'm going to build a hot-rod one day. Granted it's pretty low on the list and it's a long list...

One thing that tickles me about events like this are the Festival Queens and court. At this event we got to see Miss Oyster Festival accompanied by the junior winner Little Miss Spat. Now luckily we know that a "spat" is an immature oyster, but still it is a somewhat unfortunate title.
I'm not kidding - that really was the banner she was wearing...with pride.

It was a very fun day and we enjoyed watching the parade and walking around town - especially the Air-Dog Frisbee dog demonstration. The weather was beautiful and Sequoia was alert and happy the entire time - right up until we headed the stroller back towards the car.