Spud Day... Only in Idaho

Last weekend I bought some new play-along books with Christmas music - it IS coming up ya know! So in between Handel's Messiah, The Nutcracker and You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch, I was off to Spud Day, one of those things you can only do in Idaho. It was everything spuds and some things you wouldn't dream of are included in the festivities. On Thursday night I stopped in to see the musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", casted with local raw talent. With my imagination, it wasn't hard to envision the canyon avalanche, barn and messy rooms (OK, so maybe they're memories I already had), but it was still a good performance. Then on Saturday, Spud Day was filled with, well, everything pictured here:
Proof for those who can't imagine an entire day devoted to potatoes!
I arrived at the tail end of the parade, and, well... what exactly is this float?!?
Floats you won't see in NY, and especially not with the high school football team on top! I wonder what kind of cheers they use against the Shelley Russets ("Mash 'em, Smash 'em, Bury 'em in the ground...")? And is that the coach texting on top?
The population of Shelley is 4,257, and I'm pretty sure they were ALL here waiting in line for their...

...free baked potato (or two) and milk!

You could pay money to hit some poor kid with paint balls...

...or race to fit all these potatoes in your burlap sacks...

...or dig a hole...

...fill a cement truck with instant mashed potatoes...

...yummy...
...and join in the Spud Tug! (Pictured is a team of LDS missionaries about to make the plunge).

I noticed that they always put the little kids or girls in front...

...but I think this boy enjoyed it as he tries to keep his britches up and walk with spuds in his shoes.

The boy on the right did a belly flop just for fun.

A nice action shot as the team goes in.

Does this guy really need to call for back-up??

Here's the poor sucker he called...

...after the plunge.

My newest idea for a fundraiser at camp - wagon rides for a $1!
After meandering through all the fair booths, I headed over to the other park to watch some remote control airplanes (another one of my life's dreams).
The wingspan on this plane is probably 8 - 10 feet!
Here it is flying...
...upside down - or am I doing a handstand? (Don't spend too much time trying to figure that one out!)
The next video shows the plane on the left......dropping "bombs". I think there's a reason my parents haven't gotten me one these for Christmas, especially one that dropped things from heights!
Back at the fair grounds, Eric, a co-worker you've seen before, coaches this local jump rope team. Don't worry, I didn't know such a team existed either. I also haven't figured out how to contort my fingers as a right-handed picture taker to reproduce the digits in the foreground. But with the curve on that thumb... it'd be hard to deny!
I can not compete with a jump roping handstand!
Now THAT looks dangerous! And yes, that's Eric flipping the kid.
Not sure what they're doing here, but it's hard enough for me to jump rope on two legs, much less 4 paws!A quick video with more flips and trips for all you daredeviling kids. (I recommend practicing on the grass before you move to the concrete!) After a full day in the sun, I headed back to the other park for the grand finale, a Demolition Derby. You might remember that I missed out last weekend, but at $4 admission (that's $1/hr), I'd say I made out on this one. Oh, and that doesn't factor in the 10" crescent wrench I won for living the farthest away!

They don't look very beat up yet, but ol' Tigger better get a helmet and neck brace on!

This car was like a tank, but why 2 steering wheels?

The judge turns away as dirt flies as these two cars head it off.

Driving a pink car makes for an easy target, but it looks like the other guy is missing some coolant. (I have to assume that they're all using water, but I don't think I'd enjoy being steam cleaned.)

No coolant? No problem... for a few minutes anyways.

This guy backed into a few too many people but he's still running!
More steam flying.

The start to another Idaho junk yard!

I did take a few videos, but I must say that the Demolition Derby didn't quite meet my expectations. At the start, all the cars were rearing to go, they had 4 good tires and there were no dead cars to maneuver around. So, some of the cars got some good speed and smashed multiple cars at once. While this sounds exciting, watching the drivers get thrown around like crash dummies made MY neck hurt! Of course, once it was down to just a few banged up cars with flat tires, the hits were much less bone-jarring and almost looked fun. But I'm sure I got my monies-worth and now I know! But now, it's back to playing work and Christmas music - or is that going to work and playing Christmas music?