On the weekend after Labor Day each year, the town holds a street fair. It lasts from Thursday through Saturday. They close off Main Street for several blocks for the fair. I went down on Saturday night to take in the parade. The street was relatively clear for these pictures because the parade was about to start. People had cleared to either side to let the parade through.
Here's a picture looking down towards the carnival. You can see the ferris wheel in the distance......
This picture looks the other way down the street towards the Lutheran Church. You can see the steeple from several miles away in any direction.......
There were kids lined up all along the parade route.......
Even sitting on the tops of the buildings to watch the parade.......
The parade always starts with the police and fire department. Following them is the color guard, which is manned by veterans of the military. The color guard stops in front of the main stage and everyone along the route stands as the flag arrives. A young girl sung the national anthem and then the color guard proceeded on through.
The grand marshal of the parade was the commander of the B-2 stealth bomber fleet, which is based a few miles away from Concordia at Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster. All of the stealth bombers are based at that base for security reasons (located in the center of the country where they are safe from attack). They fly directly from Missouri to any place of military action non-stop, refueling in mid-air. They flew many missions to Iraq during the 2003 war.
Next came the Fall Festival Queen and her court.......
And some younger queens........
Next came the marching bands......
And what would a street festival in a rural community be without some tractors!!!! I'm sure most will recognize that the first one is a staple of rural America, which is a John Deere tractor.
In this small community, there's pretty much a church on every street corner. Most of the people in the community are regular 'God-fearing' people who attend church on a weekly basis. One of the two high-schools in the community is a Lutheran school. So it only makes perfect sense that there is a section of religious floats in the parade. I snapped this photo just as Noah and his ark 'floated' by me in the street......
After the parade, it's time to head off to the beer garden. There a city park in the center of the city that covers roughly a square block. During the fall festival, it becomes a large beer garden with food, music, and booze. A good combination for a party. People from the Kansas City area comes down to the festival just to hang out in the beer garden. The garden has a few thousand people in it on Friday and Saturday night. As far as you can see, people having a lot of fun........
As you might expect, plenty of German food to go around. The beer sells quicker if you eat something that needs to be washed down. On the left of this picture are slim sausages called 'long johns'. On the right, bratwurst........
Here we have a very popular snack at the festival called raw hack. What is it, you ask? That is raw ground beef mixed with herbs and spices. Most spread it on saltine crackers and eat it. It's pretty good stuff if you have the stomach to handle it. They actually sold out of the stuff by 8:00 PM on Saturday night. That's how popular it is.......
An interesting visitor to the beer garden is the 'belly boys'. I really don't think these pictures need any description. I took these pictures of the boys dancing on the dance floor in front of the main stage in the beer garden......
Over on a side stage, there was a band playing 'big band' music......
And a picture of the midway/carnival on the way out of town.......
Had a great time with everyone. I lost my parents somewhere in the beer garden around 10:00 PM, but I did confirm that they survived the night in one piece. I'm sure that there were some people in the beer garden that didn't fare nearly as well.
