Fall Festivus For The Rest Of Us

For those ten or fifteen people who didn't make it down to Winnequah Park for the Monona Family Fall Festival, this is what you missed:

Pony rides! Sponsored by Kellie Unke and Steve Seeliger of Stark Realty!

Local vendors offered some great items: bubble wands from Kristin Yates's jewelry company, Blue Hill By Hand, fresh cheeses from Farmer John, designer cookies and fresh honey products, as well as 10 minute chair massages from Monona massage practioner, Ellen Moen. Ellen, who can be reached at 442-0289, also brought along two of her four chickens. Yes, that's right, chickens. In Monona. And the Sun didn't self-implode or the seas rise up and swallow us all. In Monona.

One of the Family Attraction Committee's goals with the Fall Festival was to keep costs low for all families. A hot dog and an apple for a buck? Can't get better than that. Thanks to Alderman Dennis Kugle, original member of the FARC who helped organize the Fall Festival! Dennis took over the whole vending operation this year, and with the help of Paul Kachelmeier, Susan Fox, Susan Manning, Kathy Thomas, Scott Munson, Paul Gavins and Doud Wood, manned the food stand all afternoon.

A great variety of fall crafts and games master-minded by Heidi Sigimund, as well as some great story-telling by master story teller, Monona Library Children's Librarian, Karen Wendt and her youth volunteers.

It was so cool to see a huge crowd of our city's police officers, firemen and EMTs lined up on Healy Lane with their vehicles! They all looked so welcoming and friendly! What a great representation of our city! As my mom always says, "only in Monona!".

Kids kayaking on the lagoon, courtesy of Rutabaga- so cool! I would love to see the city set up some sort of kayak or paddle boat rental in the lagoon. How awesome would that be in the summer? We could even run a Canadian Goose-watching tour in the spring and fall (joke).

A petting zoo sponsored by Prairie Grove Orthodontics. Thanks to Dr. Dan and Valerie Drye!

Balloon creations by Tami of Funny Faces 4 Kids, sponsored by Klinke Cleaners!

Monona Public Library's Andy Nath and his spectacular band, the Banned Wagon. Dancing ensued.

ALPACAS from Forest Academy Alpacas!

My awesome parents, who helped out herding kids at the pumpkin scavenger hunt again this year, holding a tiny pumpkin dressed as my daughter.

Deb Hansen of Simply Wisconsin graciously donated two huge CSA shares as the festival door prizes. The winner of the vegetable share is Nicole Rosenthal and the winner of the meat share is Michael Quieto. Thanks so much, Deb! Too bad it would have seemed slightly suspicious if I had won either one of the shares, maybe next time I can finagle it.