Rhododendron Festival

Florence bridge

Sunday I went on the Ya Po Ah bus trip to the Rhododendron Festival in the coastal town of Florence. The road to the coast passes through hills following the river. Rhododendrons, witches’ broom, wild iris, lupin, and dogwood can be seen along the roadside. The beautiful bridge is in Florence. Crafts, food vendors and a small Carnival are set up along the boardwalk and the downtown shops and restaurant are close by on the Bay. There is an exhibition of rhododendrons, an amazing variety of colors and shapes from very small to large clusters of blossoms. Hundreds of families come in to watch the parade and they stake out there places with their chairs. They were there long before the parade started.  The parade is a community event, with high school bands, clowns, dressed up dogs, horses, and floats. I am not a parade fan but this one was fun and reminded me of the 4th of July parades in Roundpond ME. Along with the many children there were many dogs and even a pig. It is a tradition the bikers come to the festival and there are hundreds of bikes parked side by side down down. For those that like bikes they were awesome. It was a beautiful day and just the right temperature. We all, ten of us on the bus,  had a good time and most came home with a small treasure bought in one of the shops or craft tents.

along the river

witches's broom

I love stones so I bought these pendants. Each one about 2 in big.

carnival 

motorcycles parked downtown

along the board walk

biker's

this horse was performing that special walk. It was beautiful to watch.