Yesterday, Brent and I visited the great city of Gordo, AL, for Mule Day 2010. This annual event has all of the required elements for a proper small-town celebration: arts and crafts, face-painting, live gospel music, a 5k race, a Ferris wheel, tractors & antique cars and, of course, funnel cakes. Fried food was abundant, homemade lemonade was flowing, and the majority of attendants were over 65. Needless to say, we had a blast. Ha! Come on, where else could you run a 3 mile race in stifling heat and humidity and have fried gator-on-a-stick with a side of ice cream at, oh….9 a.m? Sounds like a great time to us!
Maggie Peterson, A.K.A. Charlene Darling from “The Andy Griffith Show” was a guest performer. She was great!
There were actually a few other Mayberry characters present at Mule Day, as well as the Mayberry Sheriff’s car. “Goober” came up to me out of the parade and said “Judy Judy Judy!” and gave me a hug. As I am not a huge fan of the show, I didn’t know what it meant, but Brent loved it. This guy looked JUST LIKE the real Goober from the show.
The Mule Kick 5K: the race where everyone who crosses the finish line is a winner. Literally.
We found the art studio of Kathy Fetters on the main street in an old Napa Auto Parts store. Her work is fantastic. I just had to purchase one of her Mule Day signs, as well as a note card with one of her photographs on it. Here is a picture of the notecard:
The Moon Winx Lodge is located in Alberta City, about 2 miles from our house. Ever since we moved to Tuscaloosa I have absolutely loved this old sign. It used to wink at night, but I’m not sure that it does any more. It just so happens that Ms. Fetters’ husband, Glen, is the original designer of this sign. When he saw me with the note card, he told me how he designed the face using the letters of his name, and signed the card for me. Love it! And the photograph on the card is just fantastic. This picture does not do it justice.
So, overall we had a great day, even though we both came home with sunburns and just a little bit sick from the chicken-on-a-stick we shared on the ride home. :) We met some great people and heard many stories about the Gordo area. I’m telling you, Brent can and will make friends wherever he goes. And he is certainly not afraid of going up to random people on the street and saying “Hey, don’t I know you from {insert random and fleeting encounter here}?” to which the person will nod, speechless with amazement, at his memory and attention to detail. I’m telling you, it is amazing. I don’t know how he does it.
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