White Squirrel Festival

Yes, like the little brown and grey critters, but white. And not albino either - just white - the townspeople will quickly point out the squirrels have dark eyes!

Several weeks ago, in the phonebook's calendar of events, I saw that a nearby town was going to be having a White Squirrel Festival this weekend. It just sounded so bizarre, I had to check it out. Info on the web was limited, so the plan was just to head over there at some point and just hope we found the festival and were there at a semi-appropriate time.

Arrived in town about mid-morning, and stopped at a restaurant for some brekkie. As our meals were arriving we asked the waitress if she knew when the parade was starting (yes! a white squirrel festival parade!) - 11:00. What timing! It was 10:20! We even had time to stroll down the street (to the beginning of the parade route) before it started.

Sign #1 you're at a small town parade:
We didn't see a whole ton of people out on the sidewalk waiting for the parade - some yes, but not tons. We soon realized it was because they were all in their cars! Parking is free on the side of the road, so many people just parked and watched the parade from inside their car! Totally cracked me up!

The parade was actually quite good for being such a small town. Top honourable mentions go to the ElderBerries float - a trailer full of older women just whooping it up like they had had one (or five) Caesars before heading out, the little kid on the arctic cat snowmobile (but with wheels, not skies) who would drive a bit, stop, whip (and I mean WHIP) candy at people, then repeat, and O'Brien's Bait & Tackle, Open 24 hours (for those bait & tackle emergencies) whose float was a man (presumably Mr. O'Brien) riding a bike which was pulling a small cart done up like a boat (with a little boy dressed as a fisherman), which had, following behind it, a little cart done up like waves, with a little girl dressed as a fish, seemingly attached to the boat by the fisherman's rod. Definitely homemade, and definitely adorable. I also want to mention here Before & After, which didn't have an amazing float or anything but deserves mention for its hilarious name. Before & After just happens to sell lingerie, maternity wear and children's clothing, LOL.

After the parade ended (at our end), we slowly wandered down the other side of the main drag, window shopping. Headed over to the park grounds where the festival setup was. Usual rides and foodstuffs. There was an exotic petting zoo, cows, horses, sheep, the usual fall fair fare - except on a pretty small scale. The white squirrel mascot (White Wonder) wandered in and I managed to cut off about 4 kids and get my picture taken with him first. Once that part of the mission was accomplished, we left the fairgrounds, having experienced this sort of thing - several hundred million times - on a larger scale before. The only thing left on the to-do list was to see a real, live white squirrel.

My dad had read somewhere that the best chance to see a white squirrel was in McNaughton Park, so we headed over there. I was convinced we wouldn't see one, because I somehow always manage to miss the wildlife. At my uncle's cottage in northern Michigan, my family will see deer almost daily, but when I'm out, I see none. I went all the way to Tasmania and didn't even see a Tasmanian devil. These things never work out for me.

We saw a man with a camera standing near a rock garden, so we wandered over there and sure enough, there was a squirrel! So we stalked him (the squirrel, not the man - though strangely enough the man and his wife were from our hometown - and my parents' current town - and drove up that day specifically for the white squirrel festival!) and took photos and after about 15 minutes I suddenly went "this is a squirrel, not an elephant or a bald eagle or the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger, that's probably enough time" and we started heading back to the car. Over in the distance, across the river, I saw a white something moving. A second squirrel! And *I* found it all by myself! (My dad also saw a black squirrel - the black sheep of the family he said. ;) )

I took pictures on my old fashioned (read: non-digital) camera, and will post them when I get the film developed (in 2006).

A ham & cheese omelette, a parade, a picture with the mascot, and two live white squirrels. I got everything I wanted out of the white squirrel festival. Definitely a good day.