I went to the Cranberry Festival Saturday with my mother and Paige. We met my friend Ana, and her two kids, Daniela and Ethan, there. The Cranberry Festival is a lot of fun. In my opinion, it is the most organized and well thought out event I have ever been too. They considered everything. When we first got there, we parked our car. The parking lot is far from the village where they hold the festival, so the organizers have buses scheduled every 15 minutes that bring visitors from the parking lot to the village. The bus ride is about five minutes long because it takes a longer route through the back woods. This accomplishes two things. First, by going through the woods it saves extra traffic on the main road. Second, it allows the guide to talk to the visitors a little about the festival and answer any questions. The guide also talks about the Makepeace Family and how cranberries are grown and harvested. Then we are dropped off at the gate. The cost to get into the festival is 2 dollars each, or you can give 2 canned goods, which in turn they donate to the food pantry. (another great idea) After paying and receiving our map of the grounds, we proceed to the first of many giant tents. This first tent had craft tables for kids to makes things , like beads and hat visors. Everything in this tent was free. There was also educational exhibits geared towards children. The next tent had tickets for helicopter, boat, pony, bouncy bounce and train rides. These events had an additional cost, but there was still plenty of other things that were free to do. In fact, if we brought two canned goods, we could have spent the entire day not spending any money, which to me, is amazing. The next tent was the musical tent. Grace Morrison was playing with her band while we were there. She was fantastic. Further up was another longer bus ride that brought us up to the cranberry bogs. This bus ride took about ten minutes. Another guide was on the bus. He told as more about the cranberry industry as we rode through the woods. He also answered questions. I found the guide very interesting. When we arrived at the bogs we went to another tent that had live owl exhibitions. The kids loved seeing the owls and learning about their habitats. Next door was a building that had films about the cranberry industry. Out back there was workers harvesting the cranberries. The public was encouraged to watch and ask questions. The red of the berries against the green of the trees and the blue sky made everything look absolutely beautiful. This is where the helicopter rides were. I went on the helicopter with my mother while the kids went with Ana to and play on a huge sand pile. This was the first time my mother was ever on a helicopter. She was never on a plane either so it was very special for her and for me to go on with her. Then we went back to the village and had a delicious sandwich made of chicken salad and cranberries. Sounds like a crazy combination but it was very good. We stopped by another tent that had venders selling their goods. Another building had a cranberry demonstration that was hands on for the kids. There was so much at the festival to do, but the pace was relaxed. It felt like an old fashioned fair. Around the grounds were golf carts going back and forth from one end of the festival to the other. They were taking visitors who needed a ride to where they were going. I thought this was another great idea because by this time my mother was tired so I asked if they could give a ride to the bus. The driver drove us to the bus and we then were driven to our car. It was a relief to me knowing that when my mother got tired I didn’t have to make her walk. I had a great time with my mother, daughter, my friend, and her kids and I really appreciated how the organizers thought of everything possible to ensure the guests had a good time.
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