Did you feel that Festival vibe?

I was up early each day over Apple Blossom Festival weekend, anxious to get in here and hammer on what’s always a lively edition of The Advertiser.

Our Blossom Festival coverage is a wonderful mixture of print and electronic media and I encourage you to visit NovaNewsNow.com for additional still images and outstanding video of this year’s 75th anniversary celebrations. We have footage of the Coronation ceremony, Rachel MacLean’s new Apple Blossom song, the Blossom Idol competition, the Grand Street Parade, past Queens meet and greet, the Strongman competition and much more.

Saturday and Sunday started the same: calm, yet with a pregnancy that was nearly palpable. I grabbed a java and bagel from Tims around 8 a.m. and Commercial Street was empty. I smiled, knowing it wouldn’t last long.

By noon, the air was electric. People hustled everywhere. Cars were crammed and Festival fever had taken over.

Could you feel it? There was a hum to it all, a vibe that rushed over this year’s Festival like no other in recent years. The sun was brilliant, the mood upbeat. You could see it in the way people laughed, how they moved, what they said.

Restaurants were packed, beverages consumed, the rowdies managed by police. Beneath it all, there was a sense that no one wanted to miss a thing.

You got the feeling of something special unfolding as the weekend picked up steam and, like leaves pressed into a heavy book, the memories from this particular Apple Blossom Festival will linger for a very long time.

It was one for the record books, yet personal too, with so much to cherish and recall fondly. It radiated positive energy and with news of layoffs, plant closures and funding shortfalls all winter, it’s something we needed desperately.

Well done, Festival volunteers and organizers. Don’t know how, but you knew exactly what to do to put the funk behind us and I, for one, would like to say thanks. It was a fantastic 75th Apple Blossom Festival.