Harvest Festival blues

I should preface this entry by mentioning that I grew up in the country. And by that I mean that our nearest neighbors were half a mile down the road (which was paved for our section, but dirt past the corner). I went to a K-8 school with 120 students. I grew up surrounded by cows (literally, our little tiny ranch was right between two huge cattle ranches). I was treasurer of our 4-H club for three years. When I got to go to high school in the nearest town (which didn't have a single stoplight until I was in high school), I rode the bus for over an hour each way because we lived over 15 miles outside of that town, and when it rained the bus couldn't get through and we got to skip school. It was awesome.

Anyway, my point is, when you grow up in a place like that, you get to know what a harvest festival is like. Hell, half our fun comes from harvest-related activities (in this county alone we have the county fair, an asparagus festival, a grape festival, a strawberry festival, several farmers markets, various 4-H activities, local Native American harvest celebrations, school celebrations — even at Halloween we're still celebrating the corn harvest that allows local farmers to set up nifty mazes).

So, Blizzard? Your Harvest Festival sucks. Where is the music and dancing? Where is the pie eating contest? The biggest pumpkin competition? The livestock? The beer garden? Horseshoe games? I know that this is just the holiday that falls between the Midsummer Festival and Brewfest, but seriously, when you've been working your ass off all summer to keep your crops alive and thriving, you PARTY HARD when it's finally time to harvest them all and then relax until planting (well, aside from the canning and pickling and drying and cooking).

Plus, food is kind of a major part of this time of year, what with everything being fresh and new-picked. Food and food-related activities should be the central part of any harvest celebration. WHERE IS THE FOOD?

Seriously, Blizz, find a rural town somewhere in America — anywhere — and go to their harvest fair, and then rework this holiday, because it's really, really lame.