Grapefest and the Art of Milk Shakes

It’s staying pretty busy here as we get ready for the move so my news entries will probably show up less often than usual for a another week or so.

Susan and I took a little time off this past Sunday to attend Grapefest! 1999 in Grapevine. They had blocked off main street at both ends and filled it with the sort of stuff you usually see at the State Fair. There were corn dog vendors, arts and crafts booths, and an assortment of live music. The music included a stage for rock bands at one end and a stage for country bands at the other. In the middle they had an assortment of other musical styles including a group of musicians from the Andes playing flutes (and other instruments I couldn’t even guess the names of). True to the name of the event, there was barefoot grape stomping for those who dared (we just watched) and for an extra few bucks you could enter the wine tasting area (we were broke this weekend so we just watched that too!).

Off one of the side streets we ran into what appeared to be a low-rider car contest. The winning vehicle had a red velvet interior and etched glass side windows with religious icons on them. Farther on we found a blacksmiths shop with an actual blacksmith in it. He made Susan a tiny horseshoe while he told us about his trip to South Padre Island long before there was anyone living there. Making our way back to Main Street, we got out of the heat briefly in the local ice cream shop where I explained to the counter girl the correct method of making a chocolate milk shake (chocolate ice cream + milk, not vanilla ice cream + chocolate syrup + milk!). This was the first time we had been to Grapefest and it was not a bad little event at all.