Prairie Days Parade

Mule team
Originally uploaded by Altivo

Up to Clinton, Wisconsin this afternoon to see the Prairie Days parade which always consists entirely of equine units. Participation was down this year with only about 45 units in the parade (compared to 90 or more in the past.) I imagine the high cost of fuel to haul horse trailers and equipment had something to do with it, combined with the fact that last year's parade was cancelled due to a tornado/severe storm warning. I've uploaded six selected photos, and you can see the entire sequence by clicking on the tag Prairie Days 2008. I'll add some more tomorrow if I can. Here you see a six mule team pulling a rare custom circus wagon. The weather was perfect.

[EDIT: Six more photos added, 6:00 am Monday, 18 Aug]

We ran into friends from the weaving guild there and got invited to see Juanita Hofstrom's Vavning Studio, a 150 year old Methodist church in Shopiere that has been converted to a learning center for the arts. It's full of dozens of working looms, antique rugs, superb black and white photography by Juanita's husband, and of course, Juanita herself who gave us a grand tour. A busy, rather unplanned day but worth it.