Food Festival Day

And what a day it was!

I had to get the family up early and by 6:30 we were on our way to school. The weather prediction said it was going to be a freezing cold day and there could even be rain. But it didn't feel as cold as Friday morning. In fact the windscreen didn't even have ice on it today.

Once at school we got busy with the last minute preparations. Printing signs, handing out the boxes we had prepared yesterday and assisting anywhere we were needed.

I made sure I had my camera around my neck and headed down to the field. I was not even cold any more and had taken off my coat. I knew I was going to be very active for the rest of the day. In the end my camera saw more than I did as I rushed around the market making sure everything was running smoothly.

It was exciting watching the empty field turn into a busy market in a couple of hours and then break down again at the end of the day. The careful planning and organisation of the committee of mothers meant that our event ran exceptionally well. It was three times as succeessful as last year. We had hoped for 1000 visitors and ended up with about 2000 coming though the gates.

There was so much on offer and it had a fun-filled atmosphere! If I can name a few: biltong, toffees, cupcakes, jams and chillies, olives, dried fruit, crafts, a tea garden, a beer garden, a gorgeous white and steel outdoor restaurant, a huge bungee trampoline, foodlympics, Cambridge Factor Talent Show, pillow fights, boerewors rolls, pizza, gin & vodka distillery, Scnapps, wine tasting, food demos by four top local chefs ........ and then we get to my Blip.

This was my choice of best stall of the day. It belonged to one of our local restaurants, The Silver Orange. It was so classy and just had that little something extra. They even brought two wire sheep to "nibble" the grass around the stall. Their owner/chef created and amazing cake creation for his food demo.

We were all exhausted but happy at the end of the day. Our backs and feet were sore but we were elated as we realised just how big of a success the festival had been.

But my day did not end there. The owner of another local restaurant pressurised myself and our friends to attend a special funtion at her restaurant Mango. She had arranged for one of the SA Idols winners, Elvis Blue, to sing at a gig. So I arrived home just after 18:00, had a quick bath to wash off the day and then had to get dressed to go out again. By now the cold front was moving in and it was getting really cold.

The opening act was not great but Elvis gave us a good performance. We still went passed our friends G & G for coffee and only got to bed after 1am.

What a long day it was!