It's a PUMPKIN FESTIVAL!

Oh, boy! Sparky likes nothing better than a festival, ANY kind of festival! It's eatin' time! It's sample the local junky fair/festival cuisine time! Except Sparky had some outstanding chicken tacos from a stand that were the best she's ever had. Can't remember the name of it, but boy, were they good. Sparky ate TWO! The guy at the stand said they don't sell much Mexican food at their restaurant in town, but they know how to cook it. Yep, they sure do! Cole slaw, marinated chicken, spicy ranch chipotle sauce, mango...yum!

It's Hunsader's 2013 Pumpkin Festival in Bradenton! Three weekends in October and this was the last weekend for us to go, so we did. Eight dollars a piece to get in, five dollars for parking...It was terrific!

There were monster trucks...

Sparky had never seen what they did...Basically, they ran around and jumped over dirt piles like this one...Kinda cool, but not too thrilling for Sparky...

There were all the usual food stands---pizza, corn dogs, gourmet sandwiches, steak sandwiches, homemade ice cream, elephant ears slopped with some kind of pie filling on top of them.....

There were tons of craft booths, like over 100...Sparky went up and down the aisles checking each and every one of them out...Eldo was VERY patient while Sparky did that. He people watched....

Whittlin' the time away....

There was a farmer's market with all kinds of cool produce....like these squash..Never heard of 'em...

Beautiful peppers.....

There were some weird plants there...This is a tacca chantrieri....Hunh? It was ugly!

There was a butterfly house that cost 2.00 to get in. It was a donation for something, Sparky can't remember. There was an animal rehabilitation booth with cool owls...and a Bengal tiger needing donations for animal welfare and rescue of big cats and other animals...There was a chainsaw sculptor somewhere, but we missed him. How about a corn maze? It wasn't very high, it's tough growing corn in Florida. They should come to Indiana to see a REAL corn maze. We got lost in one a couple of years ago.  How about a rock climbing wall, live entertainment and more live shows? This was SOME festival!

There was a motocross (?) type of show. These guys were cool! and CUH-RAAA-ZY!

The dude is upside down!

And these guys were CUTE! No, not the motorcycle guys, couldn't tell with their helmets on...THESE little guys....They were eating turkey drumsticks as big as their heads! And they had cute little yellow sunglasses which they aren't wearing at the moment. They were watching a funny, entertaining show by the bluegrass band, the Sweeny Family. Corny jokes, but great banjo, fiddle, and guitar playing....

There were lots of photo opps in the pumpkin tents for having family photos taken. This little girl wasn't having any of it!

They had a pumpkin cannon, for heaven's sake....Yep! Shot pumpkins outta this thing that went for several football fields...

They shot it off several times, but Sparky missed every time....Got just the whoosh!

Oh, and there were LOTS and LOTS of scarecrows displays....

It was a picture perfect day....High right around 80.....A wonderful day for a festival.....We really enjoyed ourselves at our first time at Hunsader Farms. If you are interested, check out the website, there is a lot more to Hunsader Farms than just the pumpkin festival!

Bye for now……