Baconfest and Bock Fest: Here A Fest, There A Fest, Everywhere A Festfest
Yesterday I went to not one, but two festivals! The first festival was Baconfest at Chaddsford Winery, the second one is Bock Fest and Goat Race at Sly Fox Brewery. Both were a fantastic time. I started my morning out with a cat sprawled out across me. She wouldn't let me get up. She was purring and sleeping and seemed like the most content cat in the world.
Eventually I was able to break free from the cat colony on top of me. One of the things my cats do is they sleep on the corners of my covers. So, that means when I try to take the covers off, I have a cat on each corner. As I drove from my house to Chaddsford Winery I fought the raindrops with my windshield wipers. Each drop jousting against the tiny black automated blades.
I parked my car and dashed from my vehicle to the winery entrance. They asked my last name and checked me off the list, then placed a wrist band on my left wrist. I was given a ticket for a complimentary glass of wine.
As I sipped my glass of red wine, I read the dining options for each of the food trucks available. They all seemed delicious. Basically, the idea of the festival was... that it was entirely bacon themed. So all of the dining choices had bacon incorporated into them in some fashion.
I decided that, though the bacon mac and cheese, and the bacon pierogi both looked appetizing, I wanted to give the bacon, mozzarella, tomato, and basil crepes a try. It was delightful.
An interesting note, all of the vendors had the Square Inc. solution available for payment processing with your credit card. I feel as though Square is really going to dominate this space in time. They, fairly recently, had an IPO and are now publicly traded under the ticker symbol SQ. At the moment, they aren't profitable. But I'm keeping them on my radar. I think give them a year or two to really start to cut costs and pay off debt. I look for two things when I buy stock, share buybacks and dividends. Square is doing either. They are actually issuing more shares to finance operations, that's bad... Kind of... If your company is growing by leaps and bounds and you need liquid capital to grow... You can issue more shares and it's sort of more accepted. Ideally though, most investors don't want their shares diluted. That means there are more shares... So each one becomes less valuable... You're effectively printing money. If the company is buying up shares and paying a dividend... and they are raising the dividend each year, that usually means that they have extra cashflow from operations to give back to shareholders and make the shares more valuable. It's just one of a lot of metrics that investors use to evaluate if a company is in good shape or not and a lot of it can be in the context of if the company is young or old... What the current market is like... Etc. etc. It's complex... enough stock/investment talk.
I wasn't sure what to expect given the rainy circumstances, but Chaddsford had a solution... They setup a heated tent with tables. Not only was it dry, but it was warm and cozy. The space had been enclosed except for the entrance with clear plastic walls attached to the tent canopy.
I made friends with a small group and was invited to join their group for food and drink and conversation. We sat and chatted. We discussed which food and drink choices we had made and how we felt about them. The bacon mac and cheese along with the bacon Brussels sprouts seemed to be a hit. I wish I could have tried every option. I decided to keep it to just one thing.
I'd Google mapped out how long it would take for me to get to my next event. As the time drew closer, I continued to keep tabs. I ended my conversation with the table I had been sitting at and dashed back through the raindrops to my car once again.
When I arrived at my next event location... I knew something was amiss...
I had planned to get there just as the goat race began at 2pm. Not a soul was around. A large banner displayed across the front of the brewery that that location was closed due to the Bock Fest and Goat Race...
That was currently taking place at a completely different location in Pottstown. NOOOOOOO!
It's okay. So, I'll miss the race. Oh well. There's always next year. I got back in my car and continued on my way to the location listed on the banner. When I arrived I was directed by men with flags to park on a lawn area. I walked towards the commotion. I figured that the goats had already come and gone at this point. But lucky for me the final race was yet to have taken place! WOOO! I would at least get to catch the very last bit of
I decided to grab a beer first since an announcement came over the loudspeaker that the final race would begin shortly. I sloshed through the quicksand like muddy wet grass towards a beer line. I was informed that I needed a ticket to get a beer. I ran to the ticket tent and bought a couple tickets. Enough for a beer and a mug. I usually don't buy gimmicky concert or festival souvenirs because I have enough crap in my house, but the beer mugs looked SUPER cool. I had to have one. They came in two sizes, one was just obnoxious. I mean, it was like the size of my face. I told them that was excessive and I didn't need that much beer. I went for the mini one... Or the pygmy goat size one.
With my beer I wandered in the direction of the other frenzied goat fans. I crossed paths with a couple of goats that didn't make it to the finals. I snapped a photo of one of the first goats I saw. I want a goat now. They are soooo darn cute!!! Especially the pygmy goats. Those are the very little ones. I seriously want one REALLY bad now.
I noticed something about the number bibs that all of the goats were wearing. The sponsor name on the goats... Had to be that company. HAD to be. I mean... of course, because that's how the universe works. It literally could have been ANY other sponsor...
Nope.
You know though, it made me laugh. I literally just laughed when I saw all the goats had bibs on with that name sprawled right across the bib.
It's funny, I used to see stuff like this and think... Oh it's a sign. It means that maybe I'll get her back. Or she's missing me. This is stuff you think in your 20s. When you get to your 30s you realize... It's just there. It doesn't MEAN anything. When you see something that reminds you of someone from your past. It's not a sign that means you should hop in your car and drive with a dozen roses in your hand.
It's just something that reminds you that you shared your life with that person at one point. Smile at it. Remember the good times... and then just live life as it is.
So I did that. I saw the name of the company that sponsored the event plastered on the race bibs of the goats... I smiled at God's sense of humor and drank my beer and enjoyed the event.
Of course it was hard to logically ignore the whole "not a sign" thing when the next person I ran into after seeing the name on the bib... was my friend Cara, spelled with a C, not a K.
So... I mean... I'm not going to lie, it was uncanny. REALLY uncanny. REALLY completely like God thinks it's funny to taunt me with signs of this person from my past that I chased for so long and never got. That just made my heart skip a beat.
But... again, I smiled at the humor of the heavens and enjoyed my day. Or maybe you just see signs where you want to see them... Which is probably the case.
The goat race was over quick. I tried to get a photo with the winning goat but... You know how it is in the limelight and winner's circle. The goat was rushed up to the stage and given a goal medal. They put the medal around the goat. The goat even seemed to enjoy it. Everyone cheered and roared... They then tapped a small keg of maibock beer and named it after the winning goat.
The rest of the festivities were kind of just the day winding down. I missed some of the morning activities which I DEFINITELY won't miss last year. I've already decided to clear my calendar for next May. I'll be there for sure! I plan to attend the entire event from start to finish. I actually had really never been to a beer festival. I kind of want to find more of them. I really actually want to go to a legit beer festival in Germany now. I think it would be SOOOOO cool to do something like that and have it as an item to knock off my bucket list.
So after the medal and naming of the bock beer... A band played. I wandered across the way to another area of tents. That's where I ran into my friend Cara. She was working one of the tents. Cara rocks, I know her from comedy improv. She's ALL over the place at different events. I've actually run into her before at various different events and things ever since we met one another at comedy improv.
I chatted with her for a while and had a pretzel. I then got a second beer because I had to try the beer that was named after the goat. I like bocks. I don't think I've ever had a bock beer I didn't like.
I chatted with more people, one person that had attended the college that I work for. She also did estate planning. I discussed my mom's estate. She said to me that I really need to cancel my mom's cell plan, or switch any remaining things into my own name. All I have left to switch is her cell phone, Comcast, and the house insurance. I was waiting on a few things for each one... But pretty much all of the estate stuff is winding down and coming to a close.
There's no reason to put her phone in my own name. It's just pointless. I'm just going to cancel the number. It's hard though to let her number go. It's like a little last piece of her. It's weird... people that leave your life... no matter how they leave your life... It's like there are tiny pieces of them still there. And one by one those little pieces slowly become less and less as well.
Until you just see a name somewhere on a goat bib. And it reminds you... just a tiny piece of the past.
Besides, I'm sure every time any of the girls I've dated get on a highway going West... They probably don't think... WHOA it's a sign!
It's just a sign. It's the direction that roads go when they aren't going East. They go West. So, it's a sign... But not a sign.
Hmmm... well after the event ended I walked around for a bit with some new friends I'd made. This girl Ella that worked there also went to IUP. She arrived as soon as I left. I left in 2005 and she arrived freshman year in 2006. So we missed one another. We talked about IUP things. It reminded me of the time I spent there. I've been running into a lot of IUP people lately. Does it mean that the girl I dated in college misses me? Probably not. She's married with a kid. Although we did recently become Facebook friends again and she comments or likes a lot of things I post... But I imagine she comments and likes a lot of things that everyone posts.
Both events were just tons of fun. I LOVE meeting and talking to new people. I really do enjoy that. Everyone has something interesting to share. I really want to go to lots of festival type things now that the warm weather is here.
I'm going to really try to look up more events and things to go to. I'm excited for the science after hours nights that are on the horizon. I have the wine and jazz festival to go to at Longwood... and I'm sure there will be lots of other things. I just want to keep busy lately. But I don't think anything is wrong with that. One of my favorite people a family friend Ed that passed away a few years ago was always on the go. He was always going and doing and socializing. He just loved his life and lived it to the fullest and was always going and doing. My mom was also super active when she was healthy. She was always running around doing things. So... I just feel like... It's in me as well. It's part of me to be social and active. And perhaps I'll meet someone at one of these events.
I'm kind of just... cooling it with the dating sites and dating scene thing. It'll just happen when it happens. Just have to go about my day and go out and have fun... and she'll show up when the universe wants her to show up. I've definitely learned that you can't chase love. It just has to find you. It just has to happen how it happens.
Otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy trying to decide if a goat is trying to tell you that you should call your ex and say hello.
After I sobered up from walking around and talking and drinking water and eating snacks I was then ready to drive home... I said goodbye to my old friend Cara and new friend Ella and went on my way.
Today I got my car serviced. I sat and worked on things while they worked on my car. It needed a decent amount of work. I have to take it back for two additional things because parts had to be ordered. But it had to be done. One of the responsibilities of owning a car. I definitely spent a pretty penny on repairs today. Blah. But it's fine. I'll still come in under budget at the end of my budget cycle. I always do.
As per usual... Here are my related event Instagrams for your viewing pleasure...
GOAT RACE!!!!! Sly Fox Bockfest. A photo posted by Kenny (@kennywest82) on
The winning goat! A photo posted by Kenny (@kennywest82) on
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.