Cold Day at the Crystal River Manatee Festival.

Our Location today is Crystal River, Florida.

Last night we ran our cube heater all night and the furnace never came on once. Of course we were so comfortable that we slept until nearly 8:30 and we had been planning an early start to the day. As soon as we sat at the table for breakfast this morning the furnace started because I had shut the cube heater off and started to make breakfast and the outdoor thermometer read 41 F (5 C).

One of many Entertainers throughout the festival.

Portable ATM.

As soon as we walked out the door we went back inside to grab our hoodies because our Levy jackets just were not warm enough to make us comfortable because of the cold Northwest wind that made it feel like it was freezing.

Our destination this morning was the Crystal River Manatee Festival that is run yearly. They have all kinds of vendors that pay their fees to participate as well as booths set up by the municipality and all those proceeds go to help support feeding the Manatees when they come into the area because of the cold water temperatures of the Gulf. Many local businesses charged $5.00 for parking so you are close to the festival and those monies raised also goes into supporting the Manatee.

We actually ran into the Festival Mascot.

Kathy and I have been to many Flea Markets (Shipshewana Indiana and Webster Florida) and municipal fund raisers (Art in the Park Windsor) that we thought those were large. Boy were we wrong! It seemed that two blocks of Citrus Avenue were blocked off but it also spread one block on each of the side streets one of which had a number of old Ford Model "T"s all independently owned. Now that’s just on one side of the highway.

 

 

 

Old Henry Ford used to say you can have a car any color you want as long as it's Black.

Waiting for the go ahead from the police stopping traffic for people to cross this main thoroughfare. Now there is another four blocks of the Citrus Avenue completely filled with vendors. They also spread down the side streets one block south and two blocks to the north side of Citrus Avenue as well. 

Police stopping highway traffic so pedestrians can cross the road.

A real Manatee Skirt.

Remember we had dressed warmer before leaving the trailer well most people were dressed even heavier than we were as a fact many vendors were running small generators so they could use heaters to keep warm. Even with the warmth from the sun we were still chilled to the bone.

Another portable ATM vehicle with two machines.

One of the few bands entertaining people.

Fun for the kids.

We stopped to have Pulled Pork sandwiches with fries for lunch from a municipal booth and were surprised how tasty and spicy they were. While enjoying this by the waterfront as one of the local bands started performing and were doing a fantastic job singing songs from the late sixties through the seventies. After eating we cleared our table and went to sit on some chairs where we believe we actually warmed up by singing along to those popular songs for a while. Finally moving on we spent another two hours exploring the remainder of the vendors before calling it a day. We really enjoyed this festival and would recommend it to any one.

 

Back at the trailer we thought we’d try to have our first campfire of the season. Starting a fire in a pit or on the ground I have no problem and never use fire starter. Rock Crusher RV Park only allows fires in off the ground screen covered fire bowls like the one we have. Just as the damp wood started to burn nicely our new neighbors stopped over for a chat and with the cold northerly wind that kept blowing it became impossible to keep the fire burning.

 

Kathy was so cold at 4:00 she went in the trailer and the moment she turned on the furnace to warm the trailer it came on. The Weather Network is showing our temperature to be down to 27 F (-3 C) tonight. Think we’ll try to stay warm. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

The World's Great Proverbs

A watched pot never boils over.