Wild weekend just plain fun

If you weren’t out and about last weekend, more is the pity. You missed a great one.

Fall is a special time around here, especially since folks know summer’s brilliance is all but gone. Everyone wants just that little bit more, and the weekend gave us plenty.

Thunder in the Valley – the incredible 4X4 extravaganza in New Minas – drew hundreds of people and some pretty cool-looking vehicles to the area. And if you wanted a double-double at Tim’s and were in a hurry, fuggedaboutit.

Line-ups were long both inside and at the drive-through, but so what? The weather was unreal and even if there was someplace you had to be, no one seemed to be in a hurry. The coffee was still hot and the action non-stop. How could you lose?

Then there was Kentville’s Harvest Festival and the introduction of the annual myriad displays of pumpkin people to the Shiretown. Burgher Hill and the Agricultural Research Station are adorned with a couple of neat scenarios, but I have to warn you; keep your head up as you’re driving by.

Cars were pulling over in groups of two and three when we motored past. One woman actually popped out of her vehicle on the dead-run to stand beside the wedding party at the Research Station, have her photo taken by a gentleman inside the idling car and then dash back to the passenger seat.

If it were any other time of year I’d be thinking to myself, “Is that lady nuts?� But right now such behaviour is simply par for the course. Who wouldn’t want their picture taken with such an august group as that assembled on the lawn?

Down the road a piece, the Acadia Axemen were on Raymond Field to host the St. Mary’s Huskies in what can only be considered one of the hottest gridiron rivalries this side of Saskatchewan. Saturday’s tilt was no exception, with SMU upsetting the hometown favourites 24-21 and dropping Acadia’s record to 3-2.

The game was a thriller and although local fans went away disappointed, few would deny that it was entertaining.

Football was invented for afternoons like the one Saturday; there was a nip in the air, but the sun was radiant, the sky an eye-popping blue and a sweater over a T-shirt was ample protection against whatever chill lingered from the previous night’s frost.

I was trapped in the salt mine here for most of the day, but managed to slip away long enough to round up the kiddies and my wife and head to Noggins Corner Farm to nab a pumpkin or two.

The market was jam-packed; people were shoulder-to-shoulder buying everything from bags of apples to homemade cookies. I picked up a few Cortlands for snacks, but the main attraction from the kids’ standpoint was, of course, the pumpkin patch.

Each wanted a tiny pumpkin of his and her own and we did our best to prolong the hunt until a suitable subject was discovered. We also carted a larger specimen that will undoubtedly go under the knife in the next few days in preparation for Halloween.

We watched from a makeshift bridge as flags moved desperately through the massive corn maze onsite. People are given long poles upon which various coloured flags depend. They serve as visual markers for onlookers and we marveled at how many there were in the field and how distant they seemed from our vantage point.

Our big boy and girl played in the sandpile, scaled a mountain of hay and sang, “I’m the king of the castle� to all those below. Each tiptoed over a trail of wooden logs sticking out of the ground and capered Gollum-like upon truck tires imbedded in the ground.

We ended the day munching corn on the cob at a picnic table with the sun westering behind us and the day’s excitement fading into a young child’s inevitable fatigue.

And that was only Saturday, folks. Sunday was another adventure entirely, but I have only so much room in this column and I’ve just about run out of space. Needless to say, it was fine as wine, as good as it gets. And when it comes to thanksgiving, you just can’t ask for anything better than that. Hope yours was joyous, too.