Festival Time - Tasty Tomatos!

OK Gang, it's festival time again!!!  Last week we got you to join us as we attended the Peach Festival in Irmo, S. C., and the Bluegrass Festival at the Magnolia Lodge in Ridgeway.  They were really enjoyable events and I hope you got a chance to take a look at some of the scenes and sounds we encountered there.  This week we saw that the "Tasty Tomato Festival" was taking place down the road in Columbia and - since we LOVE tomatos - we thought we'd see if you wanted to come along as we joined the crowd.  Columbia has a somewhat unique feature in that it has a "downtown" airport.  It is the quaint and somewhat quirky "Owens Field" not far from the very center of our capitol city.  The airport has a long and storied history with many controversies and intrigues along the way.  But - it is unquestionably one of the real points of interest in the midlands.  Beginning in the 1930s, the airfield went through countless changes of hands and missions - from military to civilian.  One of the original hangars here has housed some our most memorable aircraft legends.  We don't have time to cover the
history here but we'll come back at a later date and spend more time talking about the aviation history that was made here.  Today, though, we are here for a far different reason - tomatos!!!  The Tasty Tomato Festival, sponsored by the "sustainable resources" folks in the midlands of South Carolina is a time when people get together to celebrate the agricultural bounty of \our state and, particularly, one of our most popular and enjoyable crops - tomatos!!!  Now, I've gotta tell you folks, there is almost nothing I like better during the hot South Carolina summers than one of these fabulous vegetables.  (Actually - if you want to get literal, the tomato is considered a "fruit".  The scientific folks get involved in the part of the flower from which the plant is developed.  The 'chefs' focus on whether the item is savory or sweet.)  But - here's the problem (or blessing) ... there are more than forty types or "cultivars" of tomato grown in our state and, to me they are all delicious!!!  So we had to attend this festival to register our support.  But - it was waaaayyyy more than just a vegetable tasting event.  Many area businesses who support our local farmers were there to show there support, advertise their wares and give away stuff.  And - the restaurants and food-product vendors ....  they were awesome!  Restaurants, herb producers, olive oil vendors, caterers and countless other businesseswere there contributing to the fun.  But wait ... that's not all!!  On both ends of the festival venue there were bands of virtually every genre' you could imagine with "adult beverage" vendors scattered evenly between to ensure you were in the right mood!  So - it was an absolutely great day to join several thousand of your closest  friends to celebrate the wonders of summer in South Carolina.
On the Southeast end of the festival a huge bandstand was set up for the larger and more prominent musical groups.  While we were there we got to see a really great band - that happens to specialize in "Christian Rock" but who gave every appearance of some of the groups that abounded here in the 1960s - "Heart Pressure."  Their sound and offerings were really great and we really enjoyed their talent and professionalism.  On the Northwest end of the festival was a far different type of music selection.  And ... we were absolutely amazed to see that our host from last week's event - the owner of the Magnolia Lodge - Tom Hall and his friends - were playing at the biergarten.  Tom and his crew were obviously having a ball and it was wonderful to see so many different kinds of people having so much fun.  As usual, Tom was promoting the idea of support for local musicians, farmers and businesses - its one of the things we really appreciate about him.  But he wasn't alone.  Everyone here seemed completely dedicated to ensuring that local businesses do their very best to give the people in our area great products, great entertainment and great service.  But - the really important thing about the festival and all the vendors, products and performers we saw was that it was all tremendous fun.  It is quite interesting to see these young businessmen and women doing a fabulous job promoting their companies and their products with a laser focus on emphasizing the quality of their business while simultaneously letting you know that they totally "get it" when it comes to having a good time.  The folks we joined today were absolutely delightful and there were as many of our "furry friends" as there were people at today's event.  The "Tasty Tomato Festival" was another of the many events we have the good fortune to have access to here in our wonderful state.  I hope you enjoyed your visit in Columbia today and we look forward to getting together again in the near future to travel around our community, our state, our country and our world in search of the wondrous things we can find if we only look.  At the same time, though, we never lost sight of the fact that there are so many places in our world torn by conflict, strife, war and hunger.  We understand that and we are working hard to address those terrible things in our own way.  Just because we choose to focus on the beauty and wonderful things of this world on the blog doesn't mean that we are not constantly aware of our obligations to address the darker side of our planet.  We promise that we never forget what our brothers and sisters in every country on earth are facing and we are with you every single day.  We believe that together - one of these days - we can make this a world in which peace and harmony can reign and our similarities rather than our differences will be the focus.  See ya.