Bumper Balls

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Boulder Creek Hometown Festival 2018

We love festivals.   And we love festivals in Boulder, Colorado.   Labor Day Weekend, the first weekend in September is one of our favorite festivals.   There is a Farmer’s Market.

A Farmers Market in the festival

Yes, we can purchase Colorado lamb and cheerful cut flowers. (Sept 2014)

We like flowers and Colorado lamb

These vegetables are so colorful.

Yum

Makes ducks and humans hungry.   Also so many venders here.

Singing Bowls from the Himalayas.

We love the singing bowls from the Himalayas.   Kids can get inside balls.

Walking on water in a bubble

Doesn’t this look fun?    Or, if you don’t want water, try these bumper balls.

Bumper Balls

And you can watch artists at work.

Artist at work

 

These are great!   But this festival has something special.

So many huge zucchinis

Zucchini Races.   Kids can purchase a giant zucchini.   The wheels are then put on the zucchini for the young human.   There are many choices for these little ones to use for decorating their zucchini.

Work in progress

Now it is time to race.

And the race begins

These races occur every 10-15 minutes, depending when the decorated zucchinis are ready.   Isn’t this fun?  The young human keeps the decorated zucchini.

Zucchini

If you have ever planted zucchini in your garden, you know that it grows quick.   Zucchini is a very prolific plant, so there are always giant zucchinis.   Humans can only eat so much zucchini in one summer.

Racing zucchinis

But that is not all for this festival .   On Monday, the duck races occur.   Of course, we love duck races.   Duck races are to raise money for a good cause.   The organizers of the duck races have hundreds or thousands of ducks that look almost like us.   People or businesses buy (really rent) a duck or ducks.  But they are not allowed to touch the duck.  Each duck has a number, so humans know which is their duck.   All ducks are dropped in Boulder Creek.  And the races begin.

Ducks

Many humans are needed to catch the ducks at the finish line.

Wow! At the finish line

The water carries the ducks to the finish line.

Some of the many ducks

The person paying for the winning ducks receive prizes.   Everybody loves to watch the ducks race down Boulder Creek.   These duck races are very popular and many towns feature duck races in the local festivals.  We hope you watch duck races near you and, of course, think of us, the Colorado Traveling Ducks.

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Boulder Creek Hometown Festival 2017

Two weeks ago, Labor Day Weekend in the United States, we went to the Boulder Creek Hometown Festival   Even though Labor Day marks the official end of summer, we love this festival.   First we headed to the Farmer’s Market.

Yum

Don’t these vegetables look enticing?   And, there is more.

Cheerful flowers

The flowers are beautiful.   Pappardelles, The Fine Art of Pasta, had many types of pasta available.

So many types of pasta

Makes us hungry just looking at them.   Next we saw the Big Taste Grill, a truck by Johnsonville.

Big Taste Grill by Johnsonville

This is the world’s largest touring grill.   It weighs 53,000 pounds, is 65 feet long and 6 feet wide. It can cook 750 Brats at a time, or 2,500 Brats per hour.   440,000 BTU’s are heat by propane fuel.   Since 1995 the Big Taste Grill has been raising money for charities.   The profits from this weekend are aiding victims of Hurricane Harvey that severely damaged Houston, Texas and surrounding areas.   We ducks are on the stairs, ready for Brats.   Festivals are great for kids to play.

Play area for small humans

Oh, sometimes we wish we were human.   Next we sampled ice cream.

Interesting place and delicious ice cream

We love ice cream.   What are these kids doing?

Bumper Balls

It looks like so much fun.   They can bump into each other.   Of course, it is called bumper balls. End of summer means all gardens have too many huge zucchinis.   What to do with them…  Decorate zucchinis.

Zucchini

Then race the decorated zucchinis.   You buy a zucchini and the decorations are there for you to decorate.   Wheels first.   After the zucchinis are decorated, let’s race.

And the race begins

Such fun.   Next to the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art we spotted this statue.

Near Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art

Just not sure how to describe it, but it certainly got our attention.   OK moms, let’s eat.   We love the Dushanbe Teahouse, also known as the Boulder Teahouse.

Let’s go in

This was a gift from Dushanbe, Boulder’s sister city in Tajikistan.   The teahouse is serene, located on the banks of the Boulder Creek and surrounded by beautiful gardens.

Flowers everywhere

While eating, you hardly hear any of the activities of the Boulder Creek Hometown Festival.   We ordered a Cuban sandwich and Indonesian Noodles with chicken.

Our lunch

So very tasty.   Since this is a tea house, we ordered a display tea.   This is Jasmine Bouquet, a hand tied green tea around yellow chrysanthemum and jasmine buds.

Jasmine Bouquet, a display tea

With the glass of hot water, we received the tea ball.   Drop the tea into the hot water, and soon it will sink to the bottom of the glass.   It was interesting to watch the tea ball open and the buds come into view.

Tea with buds coming into view

The display was fascinating and the tea tasted very nice.   We do like green tea, so we were very happy.   We also go to the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse when there is no festival.   Isn’t the inside beautiful?

Indoor pool with Seven Beauties

When inside, don’t forget to look up.

Ceiling. Made by hand, no power tools.

We really enjoy visiting this tea house.  When in Boulder, Colorado, we hope you visit the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.   And don’t miss the Boulder Creek Hometown Festival the first weekend of September.