The Date Festival

This is the greeter at the Festival entrance.

Around here, The Date Festival is the equivalent of The State Fair in Minnesota. It runs for 10 days and people come from miles around to spend lots of money and eat lots of different foods. From healthy veggies and chicken in a wrap

to maple bacon donuts... at $9 a pop I did not try one. I bet we see these at the Great MN Get Together this year!

And always, palm trees.

There was a sand sculpture.

And there were tractors on display.

There was art work from the area high schools on display.

It was actually some of the finest pencil drawing I have seen.

And a great recycling display. This hanging lamp is made from pants hangers.

And there were races...

This rider actually smooched his camel when the race was over. When he came over to the stands, we all got a chance to touch the fur - really stiff and bristle-like.

The riders said it was hard to ride a zebra because the skin kinda slides around.

Unfortunately, the ostrich races did not end well. One of the animals was very rambunctious and got away from the cart driver and got tangled up in the red, white and blue draping you see on the side. It had to be manually taken off the track; looked like a leg was broken. When you weigh up to 400 pounds and you only have two legs... well, that can't be good.

There were beauty queens

And a petting zoo with baby animals.

These are Cavi from South America - looked like big rabbits with long legs.

There was a magician performing on the corner. This fellow did an amazing trick... a $20
bill ended up in a lemon... somehow...Overall, it was a good way to spend a day... Just another day in the beautiful Coachella Valley.