Rambling River Days Aftermath

The Kiss the Pig contest was rained out on Saturday night, as a frightening storm blew through Farmington. Trees were uprooted. For the whole story, you can read my July 6 column in the Farmington Independent.
Fortunately Sunday dawned bright and warm, so the Kiss the Pig contest was rescheduled to follow the grand parade. I picked up my grandma and we stopped by the Rambling River Senior Center for a cup of coffee before the parade. I set up a lawn chair on Oak Street for Grandma and plopped down on my picnic blanket on the curb. The Farmington Police started off the parade, with a shiny blue and white cruiser at the head of line. The Dakota County 2-Cylinder club drove their tractors in the parade (as pictured to the left.) The KQ van was on hand, but sadly, none of the morning show guys were on board. The KQ promotional staff was handing out can coolers, but I already have the two that Mike Gelfand gave me.
People were throwing candy off of most of the floats. I scooped up some hard candy for my grandma. What is it with seniors and hard candy? All of the seniors I know keep a stash in their purse and another one in a decorative little candy dish on the coffee table. My grandma just goes nuts for the stuff, especially the mint and butterscotch flavors. I like it once in a while, but I don't really go out of my way for hard candy, even when it's being thrown at me by the Dakota County Dairy Princess.
The Kiss the Pig contest was fabulous. Although there was a little bit of a concern that the pig might not make it to the bandshell on time due to the schedule changes, the contest was still a success. A Farmington police officer won the honors this year, beating out last year's champion, one of teachers at Farmington High. Grandma liked the band, Standing Room Only, that played before and after the contest better than the actual contest itself. Standing Room Only knows a wide variety of hits my grandma appreciates, including Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock" and Jimmy Buffet's "Wasting Away in Margaritaville". Wasting away in Farmington just doesn't have the same ring to it, otherwise I'd write my own tune about the time my neighbors' held Busch Light Draft keg party.
Despite the threat and fear of the storm, the sun shone down on Rambling River Days and made it a rousing success this year. This festival is truly one of the best parts of living in Farmington.

The KQRS Van

Check out the guy in a kilt in the lower left corner of the photo. He's restraining a small child who was about to dash out into the street in front of the van to pick up a stray piece of hard candy. A tragedy was averted.