Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Celina Grand Lake Festival/Approaching 1 year




Last night saw another "run ruled" game at the District American Legion Tournament @ Van Wert......Sidney defeated the host VW Legion by a 14-4 count in 7 innings....the Smiley Park lights really do not do the field justice as dusk approaches, and there is about a 35-40 period, where you can't see squat....I was doing the bases while another young umpire, RT, had the plate...like Sam, RT, graduated from Harry Wendelstadt School of Umpiring in Daytona Beach, and is a very good umpire for his age(25 or s0), or any age for that matter. Baseball needs good young umpires, emphasis on good, to meet the needs all levels of the sport.



Anyway RT, and veteran RG, will do tonight's championship game #1, between Lima and Sidney....Lima came out on top the first time by a 13-10 score...if Sidney wins, another game will be required on Thursday....I would be back for that one. The Champion moves on to the State Tournament...and the Ohio winner goes onward from there.

It's been almost a year since I started this blog...July 27, 2007, to be exact. Wasn't sure how it would grow and progress....but my feelings are...slow and steady improvement...from few visitors or commenter's at the beginning to a handful of comments per day, and somewhere on average 40-50(on occasion 80+) folks a day stopping by, from mostly middle America, but also, Canada, Europe, and other locations.....I will keep trying to improve and make it more readable and interesting.


I began this blog on Lake Festival weekend last year.....and the Celina Lake event begins this Friday....the LF Queen was chosen Monday, and the events begin in full force come Friday.

The extra large Saturday evening parade, Car events, downtown sales, games, rides, lake events, fireworks, etc, are the mainstays of this festival, which began back during pre-WW2, took some years off, then began anew in 1960, and has been the highlight of the summer season in these parts since that time.






For More information on the Celina (Grand) Lake Festival click here:












I usually don't venture out too often during the festival, although I do take in the Classic Car Show during my Saturday morning walk about town.....the show grounds are located in and around the Celina Insurance Group parking lots, which are just a couple blocks from the house....I've broadcast, viewed from the streets, and driven in the parade enough for one life time and usually don't bother with it that much...but it is a biggie. Folks start staking out their lawn chair location about a week in advance. The only downfall...they re-route traffic(including Semis) down Brandon Avenue which borders the west side of my abode...but it's usually not a big problem.

Speaking of the Lake....only 2 weeks from this coming Saturday, August 9th, is the annual Bar Stool Open, I will participate in this...more on that later.

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photos-me from the Red Door, Celina, Ohio, Reunion.....Celina, Ohio, USA(logo), and some of the vehicles at the Lake Festival Car Show....thanks to:

























5 comments:

Buck said...

Nearly a year, eh? I'll be back on the 27th to give ya "official" congrats, but unofficially: Congrats! ;-

The "slice of life" blogs are my favorites, Pat. I find the things folks do to fill their days oh-so-interesting... especially retired guys. (I nearly said "geezers," but thought better of it!)

FHB said...

That's really cool. My mind flashed to the movie "Picknick" with the festival there in the movie. It'd be fun to go to something like that. We have small versions around here, like the corn festival down in the little town of Holland, but yours sounds a lot bigger and nicer. Very cool.

And congrats on the year! It's been fun to read your posts and emails, particularly the family history over at the other site. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

It's a good blog. Good sense spoken here, and it's calm, which is a nice change from a lot of the blogs I read.

PRH said...

Thanks Guys....and Hermit,, Calm is the hard part for me...I tend to rant and rave, but I figured on this lifestyle blog, I can(hopefully) get my points across, without screaming.....but I can get emotional when needed, so far I've been able to take a deep breath and resist.

david mcmahon said...

Congratulations on the impending annivrsary, Pat.

And I want a tell-all post about the Bar Stool event!

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