Happy Days are here again

Hapeville's annual Happy Days Festival was this weekend. It is essentially our founder's day celebration - the town is 117 years old. Oddly, it seems as if half the towns in Georgia have a founder's day celebration sometime in mid-September. It is as if all the town founders independently decided around the same time in September "Hey - the weather is not too hot, not too cold - it is just the right time to found a city so that future generations can have a nice anniversary celebration and not sweat to death in the process." So, from the future generation - "Thank you Dr. Samual Hape!"

The festival kicks off on Friday night with a concert and alumni night. Although I didn't go to Hapeville High, my mom and her sister did, my cousins did and my brother taught at the school. So pretty much anyone I come across knows someone in my family (which is sometimes good, and sometimes, not so much.)

The evening was nice, and I met several new Hapevillians, including Heather, a girl who's blog I have been following. She was very sweet and I enjoyed chatting with her and her friends. No photos from the evening as I forgot to take my camera.

On Saturday, they have an assortment of booths with sort of a homemade/home grown theme, as well as a local artists market, games and rides for the kids, a couple of bands, and plenty of good food. Our neighborhood association had a booth where we sold fresh churned ice cream and baked goods. I spent half the night making several dozen cookies, burning myself on the over door in the process. That says a lot about your cooking skills, or lack thereof, when you get injured baking cookies.
Here is Cheryl and Mrs. P. sampling the homemade ice cream - it was a big hit with the crowd.

Here I am with my neighbors Mindy, Katrina and Cheryl. We all worked the early shift at the booth. Looking at the picture, I'm wondering why everyone looks so nice and colorful and festive and I look like I'm still pushing the all black Goth look 20 years later.

This is my friend and former neighbor Dale. He is a wonderful photographer and artist, and I have a number of his beautiful photos adorning my walls. He designs museum displays for a living, but has recently started selling some of his own photography on the side. He had a couple of sales while I was visiting him, which made me really happy for him.

The great thing about living in a community so close to where you grew up is that you often run into people you grew up with. Along with several old high school friends, I ran into Lorrie (above.) Lorrie is the younger sister of one of my high school friends, and she and her twin sister Mary were my and my best friend Traci's "Mini-Me"s when we were younger. Traci and Mary were the sweet, innocent ones, while Lorrie and I were the cool, funny ones.

Well, that is about it for the day, as I headed home not long after the last photo. Since then, I've pretty much been napping. So, all in all, a good weekend.