It's the Great Pumpkin, Flat Jason!

Bright and early! That's the only way to see the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival. We got there in time to see the parade, which I feel is the best part of any festival. I firmly believe the quality of the festival can be determined by the parade. And the Hartsburg festival has a lot of, well, heart. Bands, politicians, sports teams and the local MU Extension 4-H club...who can ask for more than that?

Judy Baker stopped to talk to us along the parade route. She even took her life in her hands to pose with Flat Jason. Seriously, the band almost ran her over. Every time I see this photo I feel like I should be singing either "76 Trombones" from the Music Man or "Before the Parade Passes By" from Hello, Dolly! Ha!

Next, we scoped out the free samples. The pumpkin fudge was good and luckily there were two free sample per family. More for me!

We also found some puppies, and while they were definitely NOT free, they were amazingly adorable! I wanted one so bad, and Flat Jason seemed to be having a good time with them as well, but I knew in my heart that the real Jason wouldn't approve of me picking puppies without him.

We ran into some friends from the ol' Campus House days.

Before we left, Flat Jason wanted to make sure he got a chance to help make the apple butter. We went back to Erin's apartment to rest and talk to A.J., who came to visit. Then we headed over to the Maryland Parking Garage for some serious tailgating action.

It was the first time Flat Jason and I had ever tailgated. Tracy and I played washers and talked while FJ hung out with Tommy and Sunday Phil. He fit right in with his Mizzou fleece that he borrowed from Brian M., but by the middle of the afternoon it was almost too hot for it.

Around 5 p.m., the group began to split up. Those who had tickets started going into the stadium to get seats while those of us who didn't, cough...me and Tracy, went home. I think we may have gotten the better end of the deal, though. We took a long nap and then carved our pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns. Guess who mine is...