Idyll Moments — Everything’s Peachy

As my little hometown grows up and becomes overrun with new housing developments and shopping centers, it is becoming increasingly rare to find celebrations of the old ways, the agrarian culture, and the simpler times. Sigh. As Rascal Flatts sings, “I miss Mayberry…”

One of the neighboring towns hosted their annual peach festival this weekend to commemorate the town’s once rich agricultural history. You see, Delaware was one of the top peach producing states in the union until the dreaded peach blight of eighteen-something. Seriously. Nonetheless, there are a few large farms around doing a booming business; one of them always hosts a huge customer appreciation event complete with music, hayrides, a small petting zoo, and free peach ice cream cones all day long.

So, Saturday morning found NiksFamily heading out in the sweltering, muggy air to embark upon an adventure —to expand our cultural horizons. It was, I think, the start of a new family tradition. We ventured into the town center —all two blocks of it —to check out the official peach festival (which is separate from the event hosted by the orchard). The town’s single train station —long ago converted to the town hall —doubled as the main stage on Saturday. Heck, it was the only stage!

We wandered the street along the edge of the railroad tracks, perusing the offerings of myriad vendors. The local high school drum corps playing in the background, Niksdad and I held hands as we wandered and sweat. Nik wanted to walk a bit so we took turns holding his hand for support. When the heat became too much to bear, Niksdad hoisted Nik onto his shoulders. Now, I have been to many “street fairs” when I lived in NYC and near San Francisco —the kinds with a gazillion different vendors and umpty-ump musical acts (some big names) and an air of highly organized chaos about them. Saturday’s festival was nothing like it.

There were tables of crafts and clothing, jewelry and hand-sewn handbags, potpourri and wood art. And the baked goods. Oh, the baked goods. None of the slick, mass produced bakery fare here. No sir, each and every pie, cookie, loaf of bread and you-name-it —all home baked by the ladies of the XYZ church auxiliary. Such a fierce competition between them, too! I found myself getting teary as we wandered; I suppose I could claim it was from the heat or the sun in my eyes. The truth is, I felt an odd connection to another time; I felt nostalgic for a life I’ve never known but always dreamed about. I felt like time must have stood still for this one day, just for me. And that was just the beginning…

After melting under the morning sun, we got in the car and headed up the road to the farm for the customer appreciation event. Now, my mother swears she use to take me to this farm as a kid —to pick out pumpkins; I have no recollection of this whatsoever. I am sure I would have remembered such a beautiful farmstead; their event was so much nicer than the festival we had just left. There were huge tents —set up under gigantic shade trees which have to date back well over 150 years —with volunteers serving up refreshing ice cream full of thick chunks of yummy peaches. Mmmmm…There were hayride tours of the orchards, a small petting zoo —kind of a rag-tag collection of family pets and farm animals —and a musician playing wonderful background music that you could sing along to. Perfect.

I don’t think words can do justice to the fun we had. Nik wanted to walk around holding onto one of our hands or he wanted to scoot along on the ground. Knowing how much Nik thinks he wants to eat versus how much he actually does (rather, DOESN’T) eat, I decided to see if Nik would deign to take a lick from my ice cream cone. He’s never really cared for ice cream before; it’s too cold and too wet for his liking.

Apparently, the secret is all in the cone! Not only did Nik enjoy the ice cream, he wanted to have his very own cone and “yelled” at me when I tried to share with him. He actually looked me in the eye, pushed my hand away and said “Ng, ng, ng, ng!” which is how he says “no.” Nik didn’t really want the whole cone, he just wanted the control. But the fact that he ate numerous bites —licks, really —of peach ice cream was pretty monumental. Especially because he sat on the ground next to me the whole time and even tried to feed me a time or two. New stuff. A big deal.

Ice cream finished, we wandered a bit and ran into some people we know including one of the para’s from summer school. She was pleased to see Nik; he actually acknowledged her presence and held her hand for a moment. It was a sweet moment for all of us.

From there, we found the petting zoo. Nik didn’t seem to really recognize that there were animals there; perhaps it is because he hasn’t had much exposure up to this point? There was a two-day old calf, some baby bunnies, a couple of pygmy goats, and a dog. An interesting collection to be sure, but it was just enough to captivate the smaller kids. Once Niksdad helped him pet the calf, Nik seemed to catch on a bit.

By lunchtime, it was clear that Nik was beginning to fade. We gathered up our dirty little ragamuffin —with his dusty shorts and his dirt-smeared face he looked like the most typical three and a half year old boy —and began to head to the car. When I heard the song that was paying, I had to stop and dance with Nik. How could I possibly resist the lure of “American Pie?” I scooped Nik up and whirled him around as I sang to him —and he looked me in the eyes, threw his little head back and laughed! The more I sang and whirled, the more he looked right at me, smiling and laughing and clapping his hands. I could have died on the spot and gone with a smile on my face!

Yes, definitely an occasion to be repeated every year!

About these ads