Panoply 2010

Tony and I went to Panoply over the weekend. Did anyone else go? Tony volunteered at the merchandise tent on Friday night. After I mowed the lawn and cleaned myself up, I headed downtown to meet him.

My first dilemma was parking. There were boy scouts everywhere and if you know me, then you probably know I’m too cheap to pay for parking. I found a spot where there were neither boy scouts nor a sign asking for parking money. I parked and as soon as I got out of the car a kid came running up to me asking for $5 to park. I told him I wasn’t paying to park there and he said that the parking lot I had parked in went with the one across the street where boy scouts were taking money to park. I said, “There is a sign at the parking lot across the street, there is not a sign in this parking lot. If I had parked across the street, I would have given you $5, but I parked here, and there is no sign and I am not paying you $5.” He looked at me and said, “OK.” And with that I walked off, hoping my car would still be in the same spot in the same condition when I returned.

I made it in to Panoply and met up with Tony and we proceeded to buy as much junk food as possible for two people. I started off with the one thing I had been talking about all week, ribbon fries, or as I like to call them, curly potatoes. I have a love affair with curly potatoes. In fact, I remember the first time I ever had them and what I was wearing on that day – my brain is scary, I realize this and that’s a topic for another post because we don’t have time for all of that today. Tony got fries, a corn dog and … wait for it… fried grouper. Yes, the world’s pickiest eater decided to get fried grouper from a stand at Panoply. I tried a bite of it and it really wasn’t too bad. He didn’t care for it that much (big surprise) and ended up getting another corn dog. I also got a corn dog and it was quite good.

Ribbon Fries; AKA "Curly Potatoes

After we ate, Jackie called and she and our other friend, Denny were coming to meet up with us. As they were walking in, it started sprinkling. They met up with us at the tent we were at and we listened to all of about four songs of the Maple Hill Band and then a girl got on the microphone and told us all the leave the park because they were shutting things down for the night because of the weather. In the meantime, the fireworks scheduled for 9:00 had already gone off and we didn’t get to see them thanks in part to a large tree obstructing our view. Clearly if we had known they were going to happen, we could have moved to a more viewer friendly location.

The Maple Hill Band

The Fab Four

So, we left the park and all headed back to the house to play cards where Jackie and the champion Tony proceeded to put the beat down on me and Denny with their superior card playing skills, or luck, however you want to look at it. And, by the way, my car was still in its parked location, unharmed.

Sunday night, Tony and I went to Panoply once again and once again had to make a tough decision about what kind of junk food to get. I went with the chicken pita and a Greek salad, which was good, but I wish I had gone with those curly potatoes again; and Tony got a burrito. I think he regretted his decision as well. We listened to a band we went to see and I snagged a free reusable grocery bag and then the fireworks went off as scheduled and we were able to see them this time.

It was a fun time at Panoply this year. I only wish I had had more time to check out all the exhibits and such. Since it was cancelled on Saturday because of weather, it was hard to cram everything in to the short time we were able to spend at the park. I’m looking forward to next year’s Panoply and hoping for nicer weather.