pete4winds Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 It's that time again for the annual Fall River Celebrates America multicultural fair in my town of Fall River, MA. I live three blocks away, so my neighborhood gets to really enjoy the overflowing chaos of traffic, etc. I used to get the eff out of town on this weekend, but starting last year my wife and I decided to enjoy it instead, and that's what we did this weekend. This year's theme was "honoring veterans," and it came with some perks. Being a combat veteran, I got free admission for all four days (I ended up using two, Friday and Saturday). I also got the Fall River Chamber of Commerce member discount for immediate family, in my case my mom and wife. My mom's also a veteran, but she wasn't able to come to the Chamber office by the deadline to claim her free admission. The discount for her and my wife was $8.00 for the weekend, versus $10.00 for the weekend in advance or $10.00 EACH DAY at the gate. Bargain! Friday night was "Country night." Yay. Normally, a country concert is the LAST place on God's green earth you'll ever find me (short of prison, perhaps), but I decided to take my mom to the show. This year's Friday headliner was Sammy Kershaw. All things considered, it wasn't a bad show, and we had a great spot. Thanks in part to the price I paid for admission, I enjoyed the show much more than I expected to. New England-based rising country star Stephanie Hansen opened the show. Jen, being pregnant again, wasn't really feeling up to it, so she stayed home and listened from the couch...we really do live that close. Saturday was that much more fun, as it was Los Lobos and the legendary Dave Mason (ex-Traffic and Fleetwood Mac, in addition to a stellar solo career). Mom and I headed off early and walked down to enjoy the rest of the fair (miniscule midway, international food court, artisans' tent, and such). It was really hot early in the afternoon when we left, so Jen again stayed home in favor of joining us later for Los Lobos. In the food court, I downed a GREAT chicken shawarma from the booth of the local Lebanese restaurant. I haven't had a shawarma in 12 years, since I was in the Persian Gulf, and this one was the real deal, JUST as I remembered, except much bigger. Bonus! Mom went a little more simple, with pizza from the Domino's booth. Another bonus...she got two slices for the price of one, because the guy selling them couldn't get the two separated. At two bucks a slice, I'm all for a two-for-one deal. The free samples of Simply Smart chocolate milk from Hood made me feel like I was in grade school again, drinking it straight out of the tiny half-pint cartons. We wandered around the midway and artisans' tent for awhile before heading back for a little rest and to pick (or wake) Jen up. Around 7:30 we headed back to the fair to grab our spots for Los Lobos. We'd listened to Dave Mason from the house, and it sounded like a pretty awesome show...it also sounded like a huge crowd. We were much further back for Los Lobos than we were the night before for Sammy Kershaw, but it was still a great show. The two young boys (aged maybe 6 and 4) in front of us with their parents made up a large part of the night's entertainment, constantly shifting between dancing and wrestling with each other. Hey...they were having fun. Fireworks immediately followed the show. We did have to move about 30 feet for the fireworks, because our view was blocked a bit by the tree that we were near. Fireworks are launched from the river alongside the park, so aside from moving away from the tree, all we had to do for a spectacular view was turn to the left a bit. Sunday mom left early, and Jen and I headed out at about 1 or so for the parade. I was sure the route was going to be packed, because it was just starting by then, but we were at the end of the route, so we lucked out and managed to get the last shred of shade. As usual, this will be posted in several parts (not nearly as huge a TR as my recent NHRA or Hershey trip reports, but still), so feel free to comment between posts. On to the photos (about 70 or so)! The requisite SuperSlide photo. Mom stops by the funhouse for a Kodak moment. The ever-popular Wipeout was SO popular, it wasn't even manned by an op when I walked by. Pretty basic scrambler. ...but it got some serious flight time in. The microscopic Wave Swinger wasn't much to look at... What's a carnival TR without a zipper? It was near-vertical above my head. Pharaoh's Fury was still getting as much air as ever. The entire midway was squeezed onto the State Pier. Sammy Kershaw. What happened to cowboy hats and boots? This guy had sneakers and a freakin' fleece jacket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete4winds Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Part 2: See you tomorrow at the parade! The night ended with fireworks. The only really decent shot I got of the Los Lobos show. To show how much further back we were, during the Sammy Kershaw show we were beside the sound tower (that yellow scaffold) WWWAAAYYY up there. Apparently Cedar Fair owned the BBQ trailer. A view looking down into the food court. The most theming we saw all weekend. This is the BBQ place on the food court side. The rock wall was on the food court side. This side of the parking lot is the Artisans' Tent, with a few outside the tent on the right. The blow-up doll. The Hummer. Those marines were also here. They did not have a cool flight sim. They had a blow-up doll and a Hummer...hhhmmm. Very telling, isn't it? ...with a killer flight sim of the Blue Angels. My Navy was well represented here... Self portrait? (heh)...or, rather, the first mandatory food photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete4winds Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Part 3: Parade day! Not sure I wanna go to war in that thing. Mass. National Guard band, local division. The Army Corps of Engineers. This is what a Humvee SHOULD look like. Sheriff's Department Mobile Incident Command Center...badass! No idea how Bank Five and a costume-character dog are related. FRFD Honor Guard FRPD Honor Guard Fall River's finest, the motor patrol. The coast guard even gave us a quick flyover. Jen enjoys the last bit of shade. Too bad there wasn't enough for her knee...it roasted. Our day starts off with the mandatory balloon-hawking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete4winds Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Part 4 - Final post: Our final entry. Thanks for reading! El Caribe, UMass Dartmouth's steel-drum band. We had the searing heat, so why not throw in the Caribbean music? FRPD K-9 unit. The Springfield Kilties came over 100 miles just for us? Awwww, thanks guys! From the Fall River Preservation Society. As did Spongebob. The ten-foot Elvis kinda scared me. The Hills-Mills Clown Band. I'm so getting their CD. Probably the most unique parade entry. Superman even made an appearance, but the greying temples told me "George Reeves-era"... Durfee High School cheer squad. What's a parade without cheerleaders? Fall River Housing Authority salutes our veterans. 1st Battery, Connecticut Light Artillery. ...but she was hot, too. I think she was Michaela Gagne, Fall River native and former Miss Massachusetts (in the Miss America pageant, NOT the crappy Miss USA). No idea who this chick was... They totally smiled and waved right at me. I'm a god. Miss Fall River and some other chick with a tiara. Even Captain Jack showed up. Let me put on my shocked face... Very nice classic Charger. Coast guard appearance, the sequel. The Fall River Chamber of Commerce will just let ANYONE in the parade, apparently. The Massachusetts Colonial Navy, Fall River. Even the HISTORY of my Navy was well represented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primogen18 Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Nice TR/Pics, looks like fun, that unicycle guy is a little on the disturbing side though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groteslurf Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Nice TR and pics. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_roll06 Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Hey nice TR. That place looked kinda fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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