SOCIAL DIRECTOR GONE TO POT

Some people wonder how I could have moved from Charlotte ("big city life") to Tobaccoville - on a dairy farm, no less! What you may not know is that not only did I get a wonderful husband, I "got" his older sister Pat who also lives here on the farm. She has become my "social director," taking me to new restaurants, keeping me in touch with the arts, and including me when there are local cultural events taking place. One such recent event was The Mountain Foliage Festival in Independence, VA. We went on Saturday,October13, specifically to see the Grand Privy Races! Here is Pat, looking for all the world like this is going to be good, but that mischievous grin made me a little uneasy.

The streets were filled with all manner of people from all walks of life. We thought perhaps these two young ladies had been contestants in the Potty Princess Pageant the night before, but no ... just a couple of good-looking chicks talking with the menfolk! I was beginning to have serious doubts about the merits of this festival, but then I saw that channel WXII12 was there from Winston-Salem. Hey! They wouldn't be here filming and interviewing the crowd unless this were important, right??

We found a good place to stand so I could get plenty of photos. It was time for the races to begin and, yes, the town stopped traffic on the main north/south and east/west roads for this amazing race. I'd let the pictures speak for themselves, but they don't have much to say. First of all, I've been in quite a few outhouses in my lifetime, and these were definitely not outhouses. Maybe "privy" is a poor southern excuse for an outhouse. I was expecting to see big old outhouses barreling down the street, maybe pushing back the crowds with the smell. But instead, these races were very civilized. Two privys raced at a time, making two quick stops during which the team members had to rotate their positions. Then the winning teams raced against each other, resulting in one team winning the big bucks.
Perhaps Pat was feeling guilty about this less-than-stellar event, so we headed to the old courthouse and saw that there were many interesting historical articles and artifacts to study. We didn't have time to peruse them, though. There were local crafts for sale in some of the rooms and outside on the lawn, by golly! We looked everywhere for the Potty Princess, but it turns out he got too cold in his dress so he had changed into his regular street clothes. Someone pointed him out to us as he stood across the street.
There was time for one more event before we headed back to the farm: the Toilet Paper Tossing Contest! I got excited thinking about the wonderful photos I would take. I could just imagine the white streamers of toilet paper floating against the background of a Carolina blue sky. Wait! Forget the Carolina part! We were in Virginia. I took quite a few pictures and the sky truly was a beautiful blue, but the rolls of toilet paper were either fake or were somehow sealed ... no streaming paper - just a hokey contest. The back of this guy's tee shirt had contestants playing horseshoes with toilet seats. Sort of summed up the whole experience.
Pat, Pat, Pat - WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?????