Plenty to meow about

Here I am alone in the office on Saturday just watching all the folks walk by my window that are attending this year’s Fruita Fall festival and pointing me out to their little ones. Lee, my caretaker, is away visiting her brother in the Springs.

Barbara, our advertising manager, comes in to check on me. She fills my food dish and I wanted to tell her what a waste of time that was because as soon as she opens the door to leave, I’m out before she can say “gone.”

I’m not eating that processed cat food today! Instead, I’m feasting on left over Navajo tacos, funnel cake, corn dogs and anything else I can find laying around. So many people just eat part of their food and throw the rest away. Haven’t they heard about the starving kids in China?

I love these festivals. It’s so much fun to watch kids that are here for the first time react to what they see. There is virtually something for every member of the family to enjoy. The crowds appear bigger than any time in the past since I’ve been sneaking out to come to these.

Barbara and the interim Fruita Chamber Director, Shauna Davies did a great job on the Fruita Times Fall Festival Guide that came out this week. Shauna is doing such a great job picking up the pieces from the last director and working to regain the faith of the members and return the Chamber to its main function which is to support the membership and help bring business to Fruita. Tim has spoken highly of Shauna and her staff and how cooperative they are to work with.

Tim was concerned about this year’s festival as the Chamber normally had four staff people to work on it in the past but this year Shauna has only three. Robbie Urquhart and Tami Biart make up the rest of the staff. I just love Tami’s red hair. I wonder what I would look like with red hair? Come to think about it, I’ve never seen a red headed cat that I can remember. I think Tami also has some sass in her to go along with her red hair. I say that because Tim pointed out that she drives a “hot” red Camaro.

Getting back to the Fest, sometimes with success comes bumps in the road. The larger crowds are causing longer lines this year causing a bit of frustration amongst the festival goers. I think people are not aware of what goes into the planning of these events. The only model for each year is the previous years’ experience. If the crowds increase significantly, it will cause some changes to be made but those changes can’t be made until the following year. I think for the most part folks are being patient and understand the circumstances.

The upside of the larger crowds is the additional revenue it brings to our town. It also is a reflection of the current state of the economy and gives us hope we may be headed out of the recession. Fortunately as a cat, I don’t have to think of those things as Lee does a great job of providing for me. I always have a warm pillow to lay on and as bad as cat food is, I don’t go hungry.

Speaking of hungry, I just saw a little boy drop his corn dog and his mother told him to leave it on the ground and she would get him another one so I’m all over it and I’ll be back next week.