July 26 2009: The Tanabata Festival was this weekend. First, I have to do an explanation of the above picture. As those with young children know, often times there are words within their vocabulary that are often mis-pronounced (not that we adults never do that). Anyway, we have noticed one of Andi's words is "Festibal"...."you know mom, a festibal, food, crafts and games where people gather for a good time". So this weekend, on our way to the "festibities" I tried enunciating the word and pointing out that it was "festiVal". No, no she insisted "festiBal". Imagine my dismay to see this sign....I have lost all "crediVility"!
Anyway, on to the event...this is the Japanese Star Festival. There is a legend behind it:Here in our part of the country it is mostly food. The streets were decorated with decorative bamboo. And in some places we could find the Tanzaku. But, most of the vendors were food! There was no excuse to be hungry on this day!
A view along Main Street of some of the vendors. Our first stop was for some chocolate dipped bananas. The chocolate's not to sweet, so it is always a nice little snack. Andi was in search of something a little more American. We ended up at a pizza restaurant. Not sure what our toppings were, we think beef of some kind. The sauce was more of a teriyaki, but Shane and I thought it tasted great. Andi stuck to eating my crusts.
At the time we arrived the main stage was hosting "Bingo". So all these people were gathered for Bingo. Didn't get to see any dances...not sure what the schedule was.All in all, it was a little disappointing. I was hoping for more local arts and crafts to be on display. But it was mostly (did I mention) food. There were a few "carnie" style vendors. Andi was sad as I wouldn't let her get anything or play any games. She did manage to get a balloon out of us. One of those Mylar ones...really nice a pink dolphin. The only problem was that it was 1000 yen (a little over $10). We met up with a neighbor. They asked what game Andi had played to win the balloon....I responded with "pick mommies pockets and pull daddies heart strings"
I did check, there are other festibals coming that have more arts and crafts, so will look forward to those...
