I am catching up with some of our end-of-summer fun on the blog. Just as it takes me weeks (OK months) to get photos uploaded for family and friends, this seems to be the time of year where I’m catching up on, well, just about everything, so please oblige me! And PS – Friends and Family, I’ve got photos uploaded through June 2012 now (hey, trust me when I say that’s a huge accomplishment!).
Looks like some folks took their bikes to the Second Annual Rose Park Bluegrass Festival! While others took advantage of the bike valet services offered, looks like this bike’s owner was wanting to show their wheels off a bit!
Sunday August 19, 2012 was the Second Annual Rose Park Bluegrass Festival. Located just a block and a half from our front door, our family easily can walk over to this free neighborhood summer festival. We like to make an afternoon of it, inviting other families to join us at our house beforehand where the parents can knock back an ice-cold beverage – and the kids can hang out and play together – before the trek down the road.
T and his friends meandering through the crowds at this summer’s Rose Park Bluegrass Festival.
The kids loved the “banjolele” – a combo banjo and ukulele – at the Second Annual Rose Park Bluegrass Festival.
More banjolele fun at this year’s Rose Park Bluegrass Festival!
It was a little warm at this year’s event, but that’s OK. The festival organizers brought in some great sponsors who were at the ready with free paper fans for everyone. The kids loved them, as did the parents who got fanned as a result!
The Trailer Park Truck hunkered down at the Second Annual Rose Park Bluegrass Festival, offering such down-home delights as Frito Pie and Chicken and Waffles.
I wrote about the wonderful time we had together last year at their inaugural event, and we had just as much fun this year as last, if not more since we got a bigger group together to partake in the free family festivities! The kids got to see and strum some homemade bluegrass instruments again, and we all got a nice spot on the grass where we lounged and enjoyed the live entertainment on the main stage. This year’s event also featured a beer garden for the first time (cheers), and the organizers brought in more food trucks than last year, including some that offered grub that coordinated quite nicely with the event. The Port was there with free trees for the kids, and our neighborhood association handed out free yard signs to those residents with homes turning 100 years old this coming year.
It’s more than a month later, and T’s tree is still alive! Thanks to the Port of Long Beach for the free tree planting for kids at the Second Annual Rose Park Bluegrass Festival.
The Rose Park Neighborhood Association invited homeowners and residents of homes turning 100 years old this year to pick up their free yard sign at this year’s Bluegrass Festival. Think of the signs as giant birthday cards made for houses!
Live music and good, clean, family fun greeted guests again this year’s Rose Park Bluegrass Festival.
The kids had a great time dancing, singing, and blowing bubbles at this summer’s Rose Park Bluegrass Festival.
Now don’t worry, this isn’t the only live bluegrass music playing in the area all year long – not by a long shot! This link provides a calendar of live bluegrass events all over Southern California, including San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles. In fact, there’s usually live bluegrass music in our area every Saturday evening over at Me-N-Ed’s Pizzeria in nearby Lakewood (CA). It looks as if the band Back Road Ramblers have a standing show at this location one Saturday a month through the end of this year at minimum, and this calendar indicates that there’s live bluegrass at Me-N-Ed’s every Saturday evening at 6:30pm, whatever the band scheduled (it’s noted as a standing event through January 2014!).
I don’t know what the props are called that this woman is pictured dancing with here, but she was having a ball at the Second Annual Rose Park Bluegrass Festival!
T’s turn on the banjolele!
Enjoy the photos from our lovely afternoon out! Even if it was a little (OK a lot) warm and we wound up not staying too terribly long with the kiddos, the music was way chill and down-home just like we remembered, and we’re already looking forward to next year’s festival!
Real Mom Time (RMT) 