Dew Days Parade

I'm a keyboard player and music and worship director at a mission church right now that is going to be in the Dew Days Parade next Sunday. Farmington, Minnesota, at one time celebrated the fact that they drank the most Mountain Dew in the country, hence the name. For a few years, Mountain Dew pulled their sponsorship so it was changed to the "Ramblin' River Days". It is a week full of festivities, bingo, street dances, sales in city shops, and a fundraiser for the city includes kissing a pig! As you can tell, the sponsorship by the bottling company is back too; they recognized a good thing!

Our mission church is located in an elementary school in Farmington and is full of younger families who like to have fun. Our music team is high energy live music, with lots of harmony and many different musical instruments on any given Sunday. So we're going to emphasize that aspect down the road next week.


Last year we used a trailer from one of our members; this year we were hoping to find one a little bigger. I asked a nearby church about their trailer, and it had two flat tires and was in bad shape, but sent me to Farmer Pat, who has a farm in the country thirty minutes from here. His T-shirt says, "Come over to my Farm! Red barn, white house, can't miss it!" Great guy!

Here is the brand new trailer he is going to lend us! How will we decorate it? We plan to put 10-13 musicians and their gear on it so it won't have much on top but people and stuff. Several members of the church plan to walk along beside it with squirt guns, candy, and wagons for the little ones. We'll all wear t-shirts with our logo. It should be lots of fun.

This same farmer had several ball hitches for us to choose from depending on what the man's truck has for a hitch set-up. (first learning experience) He also made sure I noticed that there aren't any sides to the trailer, so he hopes we don't fall off! The women of the group will sit on the edge and swing their feet I'm sure! (potential learning experience!)



Remember now, I'm a classical pianist. The next goal is to get our sound working. Yeah, right. Good thing I'm not afraid to ask for help! My dad is going to bring a deep-cycle marine battery up with him tomorrow,(second learning experience) and we are purchasing an inverter to change from AC to DC, (or is it from DC to AC?, third learning experience) We plan to have an extended rehearsal outdoors in my backyard this week to test the equipment. (fourth learning experience) Well, anyway!