Ok, so I have been feeling a wee bit sentimental lately about my beloved hometown known as Sugarcreek. It really is such a lovely, quaint place to grow up. Whenever I tell friends in Northern Ireland that I grew up in a small town called Sugarcreek, they burst out laughing at how sweet and innocent and apparently so American the name is. But I love it and I am so proud of it =). I mean the town has its downfall as well, but we wont get into those....plus its positives far out weigh its negatives.
So this week in Sugarcreek is the annual Swiss Festival, and I am missing it terribly! Its not just the festival and parades that make it so much fun, its the memories and the anticipation of memories to be made each year. I have countless wonderful memories growing up going to the Swiss Festival. There were the ones made in grade school when your parents would send you off with $10 to ride whatever rides you and your friends found worthy of your ever so precious money. Then in junior high it really became interesting because you would meet your 'boyfriend' at the festival, walk around holding sweaty hands, eating apple fritters and feeling that this most be what love feels like. Then in high school it gets even more exciting because, well for one you can stay out later, and you have the Friday night football game that you can drive too or have friends that can drive you too it. And then you meet at the festival afterwards. I can remember my senior year being secretly 'in love' with the quarter back and anxiously awaiting his arrival at the festival after winning the football game. I mean this is the stuff movies are made out of...seriously! Then in college, its the time to go back and see everyone. Everyone can see how much you have grown up and possibly have a handsome college guy on your arm to show up your high school boyfriend who broke your heart of course. You are ever so proud! I remember my roommates and I, who by the way were mostly from Sugarcreek, planning our outfits each year on what we were going to wear to each night of the festival. And now its mostly about the food, ha ha. And of course seeing the people you have not seen in ages. Its that one time of year that you get to catch up with people who have moved away or that you simply haven't seen in a few months.
I love everything about the Swiss Festival. I love the food. I love the smells! I love the parades. I love the wee men in the parade in the wee cars. I love the bands. I love the crazy traffic and planning alternative routes out of town. I love watching people run the Swiss Cheese Race past my house. I love that I lived close enough that I could walk down and it could be a meeting place for my friends and I. I love watching the kids run around. I love the outfits. I love the yodeling (yes yodeling contests!). I love the stone toss. I LOVE the Friday night football game. I love watching the memories being made. I love seeing people you haven't seen in forever. And that is why I love Sugarcreek. It has some of the most genuine people you will ever meet.
So to all you Sugarcreekians! Enjoy the festival twice as much as normal this year because you never know when you may not be able to go! :)
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