The 82nd Danville Fair is history.  There used to be a saying that "it never rains on Danville Fair," but that is no longer true.  While there wasn't a downpour yesterday, apparently it did rain on the fair at least a little, and sprinkled last night while we were at the Bel Aires concert.  It didn't seem to dampen the spirit of the crowd, and while the numbers may have been down a bit, there seemed to be plenty of enthusiastic fair goers under the big canopies provided.  Here's a short slide show.

We were joined by one of my cousins and his wife from Barre at the Bel Aires concert last night.  I had mentioned some time ago that middle son, Bob Dimick, plays keyboards with the band - mostly only at Danville Fair and sometimes at the Stars and Stripes Festival in Lyndonville.  We were pleased to see several people from Joe's Pond there - Homer and Margaret, Bryce and Esther, Phil and Lorraine - and there were other folks I hadn't seen in a long time - all long-time fans of the band.  Like every year we've been to the fair, and there are many, we always bump into someone we haven't seen in ages and it's great fun. I guess the highlight of the evening for me was when the band did Hey Jude.   

 
Fred did another short video of a Bel Aires crowd pleaser, Paul Toney doing Only the Lonely.
     
As you can see, these aren't youngsters, but seasoned musicians.  They all have day jobs, but love music of the 60's and 70's.  They may not be fashion plates, and sometimes they admittedly hit a sour note when singing, but anyone watching can tell right away they enjoy making music together.  Bob says that's what is so much fun for him - nobody takes their stage life too seriously.

Kitty Toll MC'd when it was time to draw the winning raffle tickets, and she told a very nice little story about the parade held yesterday morning.  She said the fair theme honored Melissa Jenkins, the teacher who was brutally murdered earlier this year.  There was a float with pink balloons, Melissa's favorite color, and as the parade progressed, someone noticed a hawk circling gracefully overhead, and then one pink balloon mysteriously rose from the decorated float and floated upwards, seemingly to join the hawk overhead, until both were out of sight.  Kitty said Melissa loved Danville Fair and had said she would love to have her wedding at the fair someday.  Sadly, that won't happen, of course, but for the many people at the parade who knew, admired and loved her, it seemed the hawk and balloon were signs Melissa was present in spirit, and as Kitty said, she was watching over them.