On Saturday, two of my best friends, Rachel and Tiffany, and I drove to Cowan, TN to attend the Polly Crockett festival. I'd been to Cowan before and fell in love with the quaint little railroad town so I was excited to learn I'd be returning. Rachel is from nearby Decherd, TN and Saturday happened to be her 31st birthday. What better way to celebrate than to attend a street festival celebrating Davy Crockett's first wife.... complete with a parade, bull riding, cornhole tossing, and skillet tossing.
We headed to the festival at 10:00 that morning and walked around all the artisan booths (I wasn't too impressed- most of the crafts offered were ugly purses) We quickly noticed how the festival brought out some good people-watching material. We saw all kinds of strange folk, including a redneck in racing gear holding two kids attached to leashes, and an obese lady wearing an apron for no apparent reason while smoking a cigarette. But imagine our glee when we see a man dressed up as Davy Crockett! Rachel immediately went up to him and told him it was her birthday and asked if she could have her picture taken with him. He was more than happy to do so.
Next we decided to eat lunch at Sidetrax. Our meal was really good, but I wish we had eaten at the Whistle Stop Cafe this time. It looked like an old diner inside and was packed with people. Must be good food! As we left the restaurant, we saw this strange stuffed bobcat sitting under a tent with no explanation as to why it was there. In fact, this festival was full of strange things that seemed to have no place at a street festival.
Anyways, we walk over to the "Adventure" area and see a sign for skillet tossing and this gets me all worked up because I fantasize about being the champion skillet tosser of Franklin County. Alas, it was not to be since I later found out that the skillet tossing competition wouldn't start until 3 p.m. I didn't intend to wait around a few hours, so Rachel and I settled for mechanical bull riding instead. As I hopped up on the bull, I noticed a sadistic look in the operator's eyes since he had been giving rides to small children all day. It was obvious he was going to make sure Rachel and I got our money's worth. I fell off the bull after just a few seconds, but hopped back on for a second time and held on for what seemed like quite a while, but then was violently bucked off and fell head first against the inflated cushion below. See picture for proof. Rachel didn't fare any better than me. She fell twice and in the process exposed her butt crack to all the festival goers. By the way- mechanical bullriding is a great workout for your abs. Who knew!
After our foray into bull riding, we decide to grab a slush from one of the street vendors. To my surprise (or horror) I noticed they also served fried oreos, fried moon pies, and fried twinkies. I saw this picture of the fried oreos and they look absolutely disgusting. Still- I'm intrigued.....
Finally, hot and tired of walking, we decided to leave, but left with great memories and a dayful of laughs. Click here to see more photos from the Polly Crockett festival.
2 comments:
Your pics are hilarious. And I've had fried Oreos (Mule Day). They're actually quite tasty.
Isn't the Whistlestop Cafe in that movie Fried Green Tomatoes?
I did a google search for Cowan because I grew up there and wanted to show a friend of mine some pictures. Anyway, I came across this post and nearly choked laughing. I wish you had caught the names of some of the more interesting people you met, I'm sure I'd know them.
It is interesting to see an 'outsider' opinion of the place, just to double check and see if it is as messed up as it seemed growing up there.
Good read.
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