Festival Frenzy

Ok, so it's been over a month since I have blogged. Ooops. Life has just been crazy. I have complained about the weather here before in this blog but now the weather is actually nice, which is why life has been crazy. I guess since Butte, MT has such a short summer they try to cram everything into those 4-6 weeks. So every weekend there is some event going on. This means I work every weekend, which isn't bad and I fully expected going into this business, just makes me tired and leaves less time to explore Montana in the summer. Oh well. So since I have last blogged the two events that were REALLY big deals were the 4th of July weekend and the National Folk Festival.

Let's start with 4th of July. This town loves it's fireworks. The sheriff told me that they used to be legal all year round so people would set them off all the time whenever they wanted. Then a few years ago the City/County Council passed an ordinance so now it's just legal for 2 weeks around Fourth of July time and New Years eve. Boy, were those 2 weeks noisy. I was warned that Uptown Butte would sound like a war zone. I've never been in a war zone so I can't compare but I'll believe it. Every night there were fireworks. One time I saw a boy about to throw one on my car. Then he turned around because his buddy said something and I quickly drove past. I would have been very angry if my Rav4 were hit with a firework. But it is a problem here. That being said July 3rd is the big fireworks show here in Butte. They do July 3rd because many many many many years ago when they first started this the company could only do it on the 3rd, they've continued the tradition ever since. And that night there were fireworks going on in every direction from residents just setting them off. Then at 10:30 p.m. when the professional show started suddenly everyone else stopped. That was kind of cool to see. And the big fireworks show was very good, have to give the city credit for that. On the actual 4th of July there was a parade. Nothing too exciting about the parade but after when I was going around interviewing people I was handed a bloody mary and told "for your hard work." Oh boy I did not know what to do with that. I also met a very nice family. I got their whole bio, met every member, and was invited to their family barbeque later in the afternoon. People are super nice here like I've said before.

The next major even that had me working all weekend was the 72nd Annual Folk Festival. This was it's 3rd and final year being held in Butte. It was a really cool event to see though. Stages set up all over the city for musical acts and tons of vendors everywhere. Several major streets were close and 160,000 people attended. For a city of about 30,000 normally it was nuts to see the streets so busy. And it's not just folk music. There was all kinds of music. I'm a little sad I didn't have more time without my camera to really enjoy it but it was still cool to experience. From one of the food vendors I tried a buffalo bratwurst. It was ok. But I also had a bite of a relatives elk sausage and I personally thought that tasted better. Those 2 foods are me being very adventurous haha. The band that ended the event on Sunday was a bank called "Super Chikan and the fighting cocks" The main guitar player/singers guitar had a chicken head on it. He also made as many chicken jokes as possible during their set. But that's ok the music was really good and after a certain point it was just humorous that he kept going with the chicken jokes and references. After all that action I was sore for a few days from carrying a camera and tripod uphill for 3 days but like I said it was fun to see the event and the city so alive.

The next really big deal event is Evel Knievel days. For those who don't know Evel Knievel is from Butte, MT. so every summer there is a 3 day festival in his honor here. It brings lots of motorcycles, daredevils, crazy stunts, and drunk people. Or so I'm told. It all kicks off tomorrow. I'll be out there with my camera catching the action and I'm sure I'll have more to blog about after the event. My parents are also coming in to town for a visit this weekend while this drunken, rowdy, motorcycle fest is happening so I'm predicting the next blog post will definitely have some humor.