When A River Runs Through It Who You Gonna Call
We headed into Maidstone today for the town's River Festival. The town has the River Medway running right through the centre of it but it is almost completely neglected as a prized asset for 99.9% of the year. Yes you can walk along the path on each side of the river and there is a lovely river park but there is virtually nowhere to eat or drink - no bars, cafes or pubs and just one restaurant (which is slap bang next to the law courts!) on the riverfront in the town so to see everyone out enjoying themselves on such a wonderful summer's day with all the colour and hubbub of the festival was fantastic.
The festival was a staple of the county town's summer for over 40 years but was paused over the last few years due to Covid and spiralling costs so it was great to see it return. My main image and the first extra are of the wonderfully decorated floating displays that lined the river bank with the second extra being a close-up of one of the many fabulously characterful mannequins which were deployed on the various waterborne craft.
The centre of the town didn't want to be left out of the celebrations either and dotted along one of the main shopping streets were several examples of automotive treasures - a grouping of Second World War jeeps with attendant appropriately attired re-enactors, a DeLorean replica from the Back To The Future films and an Ecto 1 from Ghostbusters.
I concentrated on the latter as it was the one I could get easiest access to. The base of the Ecto 1 is the 1959 Cadillac Miller Meteor of which only 400 models were produced - it was originally manufactured with the intention of being used as an ambulance or hearse with suitably gargantuan dimensions - 21 feet long and 7 feet wide - and weighing in at 3.5 tons with some of the longest tail fins in the automative industry at the time.
My third extra is an attempt to illustrate the aforementioned dimensions and I just like how the guy holding out his phone is wearing a top in the same red and white colours. The fourth extra shows a head on shot of the Ecto 1 as shoppers stroll past and my last shot is of its dashboard with its selection of Stay Puft Marshmallow Man figurines (I'm assuming the little jar is full of psychomagnotheric slime!).
I had to add a soundtrack for my blip so who else you gonna call other than Ray Parker Jr.!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe93CLbHjxQ
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