Saturday, March 24, 2012

2 Great Weekends in a row

The past two weekends have been awesome! Last weekend in Homosassa a Dragonboat Regatta was held. And, today was the ShrimpaPalooza Festival in “Old” Homosassa.

There was a good number of out-of-town guests in town and crowds of spectators gathered along the Homosassa River at McRaes boat docks  and the Riverside Resort by Monkey Island for the third annual Homosassa River Dragon Boat Races. They began at 9 am Saturday, March 17, on the river in front of Riverside Resort.

Dragonboat Festival 2012

Besides the local Natures Coast rowing teams, visiting teams from Tampa, The Villages and Hawthorne, competed in three types of races. Two of the races were straight sprint races, one 300 meters long and the other a 3000 meter one. These races originated in China nearly 2,000 years ago. Its popularity has been growing all over the world for the past three decades. For these sprint races,  five teams  raced up and down the river. Each boat held 20 paddlers, 10 on each side, along with a steersman and a drummer who  kept the beat and everyone focused. The third race was a dragon boat barrel race. This unique race was a big crowd pleaser on the Homosassa River for sure. In this race, the 44-foot boats had to cut tight corners which tested the teamwork and skills of every team. Below are some pictures taken at the event.

Dragonboat 1   Dragonboat 2

Dragonboat 3   Dragonboat 4

Dragonboat 5   Dragonboat 6

Thank goodness “The Shed” at McRaes is nearby.

DSC_0047   The Shed

The day’s great weather and activities made many of us thirsty! What a great outdoor atmosphere and event.

Here is a video of the barrel race.

 

This morning, after stopping first for a Hardee’s Drive-thru Breakfast, we went to the Homosassa Public Library. You see they held their annual Friends of the Library Book Sale. Barbie couldn’t resist checking it out. There was a line waiting to storm the event 20 minutes before they opened the doors! Barbie spent 35 minutes searching for her finds. She came back with 4 paperbacks that cost her a total of ONLY $2! All paperbacks were 50 cents each and hardbacks $1. Not only did they have books but DVDs, CDs, and puzzles. She enjoyed herself while Kozmo and I waited in the truck. We were resting up for the excitement of the FIRST ShrimpaPalooza Festival in Homosassa!

ShrimpaPalooza

After leaving the library we made the 8 minute drive to “old” Homosassa to check out this new event. The Rotary Club of Homosassa Springs organized this event advertising it as  Mardi Gras Homosassa Style! It actually kicked off Thursday and Friday night with Palooza Parties at the local bars, which we did not check out not knowing what to expect. This mornings’ activities started with a 10:30 am Parade down Yulee Drive. Unfortunately, we just missed the parade. People were still walking around the streets but we knew we must have missed the parade as everyone seemed to be wearing beads-we had none.  It was about time for the event to kick into full gear with live bands, lots of food and plenty of arts and craft vendors to visit. We did run into our Rock Crusher neighbors, Roger and Judy, and they saw the parade-they had beads!  We’ll get the scoop from them later. There certainly were plenty of opportunities to enjoy some great seafood, arts & crafts, live music and all the fun one could handle!

IMG_1816   IMG_1819

Not knowing what to expect, we didn’t stay in the area long as we had our furry, four-legged GPS with us. We couldn’t just leave her by herself and wander around.

Kozmo 4 legged GPS

‘Til next time………………….

6 comments:

squawmama said...

Wow I sure hope they do this next year ~ we are all in for that!!! Sounded like FUN! I see they paddled around Monkey Island...
Have fun & Travel safe
Donna

Paul and Marsha Weaver OCT. 17, 2009 said...

What a cool idea for the race. Great photos.
WOW...I would have loved the library sale. What a great price for the books. Sounds like you two are having a wonderful time. Enjoy the weekend. ~wheresweaver

Karen and Al said...

Sure sounds like lots of fun activities up your way. Great photos!

Sherry and Charley Dilworth said...

Sounds like lots of fun! Hope they do this when we get back to Crystal River for the snow-birding season!

Sam&Donna Weibel said...

That is down near where we will be going in Inverness in about 2 weeks, Hope we can find some fun too. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna..

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