Falls Park celebrates 10 years!

We joined the Mayor of Greenville, the Greenville Brass Quintet of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra and renowned architect Miguel Rosales to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of Falls Park on Sunday. The City of Greenville has a unique treasure in Falls Park, which has played a role in many of the awards won by Greenville on the national stage. Even though I first visited Greenville before the addition of the park and Liberty Bridge to downtown Greenville, I can’t imagine our little city without them, and on a beautiful fall day such as this one I didn’t want to be anywhere else.

The amphitheater in the park had a tent covering the stage, and chairs had been set up for a few hundred people. Many spectators opted for more natural park seating, either on one of the surrounding walls or on blankets spread on the grass. Having received a commemorative reusable bag (insulated, perfect for a Falls Park picnic!) we took our seats for the concert. The sounds of the brass and percussion instruments floated over us, stopping cyclists, dog-walkers and runners in their tracks. I was grateful for the opportunity to hear the quintet from the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, as even though the boys are relatively well-behaved, I don’t see us attending the symphony any time soon; an outdoor, condensed experience was perfect for us.

The official portion of the event (which we witnessed from afar) included an address by architect Miguel Rosales (who designed the Liberty Bridge), Andrea Mains (the landscape architect who created the park master plan) and Mayor Knox H. White. But by far the most memorable portion was John Philip Sousa's March "The Liberty Bell" resonating across the park and up to the Liberty Bridge on this crisp, sunny autumn day, in honor of the vision that created this beautiful space.

For the history of Falls Park see my post Liberty Bridge and Falls Park on the Reedy River

The City of Greenville official press release is here

International in the Upstate

We had a great time at the City of Spartanburg's International Festival on Saturday. Held annually in Barnet Park for 29 years, the festival attracts an estimated 12,000 visitors to downtown Spartanburg, SC each October.

Our Greenville friend Sarmīte has been organizing the locals to represent Latvia for many years, and we joined the fun about four years ago. Lauris even made this year’s brochure – see if you can spot our flag-waving hero.

Maybe you noticed on the map we were again placed next to Cameroon and South Africa on the Avenue of Nations. This means once again my head was drumming a similar beat in the evening as the one that kept tempo for the drum circle the next tent over. I’ll forgive them, but I can’t forgive the Greek food vendors for running out of gyros before I managed to swing by. The International Boulevard of Food was truly impressive this year, occupying the stretch of Converse Street for the first time, instead of the sidewalk running parallel to St. John Street where it has been many years in a row. We saw the addition of a bier garten and a much larger International Sports Zone as well.

As always, we marched in the Parade of Nations, perhaps in our largest numbers yet. Numbering twenty-one in our group photo, I estimate almost double that having stopped in at some point or another throughout the day. Lūcija kept the boys (and a visitor or two!) occupied creating little acorn figures while they weren’t running around getting their passports stamped, completing the trivia sheets (with mom’s help) or chasing the world-colored beach ball around with Finn. We didn’t even make it over to the Kids’ Zone, although we had a prime vantage point of the Worldwide Showcase Stage from our end, with all of its belly-dancing, Japanese-drumming, Latin-band glory.

With 37 countries participating, food and goods from around the world for sale, demonstrations in everything from martial arts to fencing, the Spartanburg International Festival is a free event like no other in South Carolina. I’m proud to represent Latvia in this global affair, and hope that our numbers here in the Upstate keep growing right along with the festival! Uzredzēšanos nākamgad Spartanburg!

See Spartanburg’s website here, for more information.

My post on last year’s festival is here.

Wild for Reading

Vilis went to the zoo for the very first time last week! His big brothers were more than happy to show him all of their favorite spots, although Vilis slept through most of it…

One of the programs that is taking place weekly now that school is back in session is Greenville Zoo’s “Wild for Reading Wednesdays,” occuring every Wednesday at 2:30pm in the mini-amphitheater next to the farmyard exhibit. The education department puts on this program, which consists of reading a children’s book followed by a live animal presentation. Last week was a hoot, with a reading of Good-Night Owl followed by the opportunity to meet the cutest little rescued screech owl.

After petting the owl, the boys learned something they can do to help protect these birds of prey. Many times owls are hit by cars, and as the majority of the audience did not have a driver’s license, their role in prevention was simple, yet not so obvious – to stop throwing trash out the car window. The food and crumbs attract rodents to the roadside, which in turn attracts predatory birds, and it is while on the hunt for dinner that many owls get hit.

Once the program concluded the boys were in for a surprise. The Junior League of Greenville had set a pinterest-worthy table, complete with enough sweets for twice the amount of children attending! First the boys opened up Oreos and stuck them on cupcakes adding M&Ms for eyes and a beak to make their own edible owl. But soon enough they could dig into the popcorn and enjoy this lovely treat by the ladies of the Junior League – thank you!

On our tour of the zoo afterwards we noticed a few more new additions/changes, one difference being the new facilities just outside the zoo gates, complete with B-cycle station. Also, a fence has been put up around the elephant paddock, with some landscape work occurring inside. In addition the Angola Colobus Monkey enclosure was closed, with workers busy taking it apart. The changes there and to the tropical bird enclosure are part of the twenty year plan to modernize Greenville Zoo. Smaller improvements were also noticed, such as the addition of a set of blocks, wheelbarrow (in the first picture), crates and storage unit to the playground, designed by Community Playthings. The boys also stumbled upon a clue from “Secret Safari” which I’m not sure I had noticed before. After checking the webpage and learning more about this scavenger hunt, we will definitely be completing the Safari on our next visit to the zoo.

Wild for Reading... Wednesdays

When: Wednesdays, September through May, at 2:30 pm

Where: Farmyard exhibit

Cost: Admission to the zoo

Website: http://www.greenvillezoo.com/pages/ReadingWednesdays.aspx

The Enchanted Chalice Renaissance Faire

Certain summers when I was a girl growing up my family would load up the Saab and head an hour north to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Every weekend during the summer months Elizabethan England would be recreated, 30 acres of swordfighting, games, rides, arts, crafts, food and music. This was where my crossbow obsession started (and ended, as my parents were not keen to have me practice in the house), and the fried dough and other treats consumed on the one visit a year were remembered months afterward. I haven’t come across anything similar since, as all the inhabitants of the 16^th century village actually lived on site for the summer and 30 acres provides an enormous stage to be set. Then last weekend The Enchanted Chalice Renaissance Faire and Olde World Bazaar came to Greenville, and I was able to satiate my need for revelry and tomfoolery in this much smaller, yet true-to-the-genre-festival.

The Hounds of East Fairhaven

Located on the grounds of the Greenville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, the fair is in at least its 4^th year but it was our first visit. An improve comedy bit was getting laughs on the main stage, and people were wandering through the vendors’ section where everything from clothing and weapons to wands were for sale. As we chose to visit on Friday afternoon to allow for Saturday’s trip to Sky Top orchard, portions of the fair such as “Childe's Realm in the Enchanted Forest” weren’t open yet. We posed for pictures and then continued around to the fun & games area.

My little princess...

The boys tried their hand at a few games, but it soon became apparent that at their age it was more luck than skill involved. The jousting arena caught their eye, but we steered them towards the food vendors instead. With options ranging from bbq and pizza to salmon wraps, we had an easy time finding something for everyone. The boys settled in with hot dogs and sprite while we people-watched, the crowd ranging from casual summer-wear to elaborate costumes, corsets and make-up. We had opted for a casual gypsy-pirate look, especially appropriate as that happened to be National Talk Like a Pirate Day; we fit right in with our long skirts, jewelry and swords.

After meeting up with our friend Finn we stopped for a long sword demonstration by Sword Carolina (located right here in the Upstate), an impressive endeavor in the late-summer heat with the full body armor and helmets. It didn’t seem the smartest idea to let the boys watch after they had been repeatedly told not to play-fight with their swords, but their reaction to the clashes was hysterical laughter, eliciting chuckles from the rest of the audience as well. I think the sword fighters were expecting more applause than laughter?

They were followed by another set of fighters, these with armor and weapons recreated for the express purpose of being authentic to the time period. The engagements seemed more violence and less sport, so we soon continued on, doubling back to the Enchanted Forest area in hopes that it would be open. Finding that only the photo-op area was available we let the boys expend some energy but eventually drifted over to the hula-hoops and stilt-walkers area. It was there that dusk found us, and with a couple of reluctant revelers we made our way to the car to keep the little pirates’ appointment with the bathtub.

The Enchanted Chalice Renaissance Faire and Olde World Bazaar ran September 19^th 5 to 11pm and Saturday the 20^th 10am to 6pm. Admission was $8/adult and $3 for children ages 3 – 10, or $13/adult $5/child for a two-day pass. If we are in town next year we’ll attend on the Saturday to allow more time to explore the fair and to check out some of the musical talent. This year’s headliners included Darby Wilcox, Discordia Arts and Asheville-based Carolina Cieli in addition to the Alchemy Comedy Theater (that performed while we were there). Refreshments were available for purchase and parking was free.

Urine: The Game

With the change of seasons comes the change from summer activities to fall playgroups and programs, a schedule of more organized recurring plans. Also we’re seeing the rotation of exhibits such as at The Children’s Museum of the Upstate, where “The Great Outdoors” exhibit has been replaced by “Grossology.”

We enjoyed the camping and nature exhibit, as it corresponded with the scout and guide jamboree Lielā Nometne Mantojums that we missed during our wait on the arrival of Vilis. With a kayak, tent and campfire there were quite a few things to do and see. However the boys are used to hiking in the actual outdoors and sitting by real campfires, so there was something lacking in making rubbings of fake leaves, or identifying artificial animal tracks and counting the rings on a tree indoors. I did appreciate the life jacket and campfire safety aspect of the exhibit, but we spent most of our time at the museum in the permanent portions.

The new exhibit is 100 percent disgusting. We started with the lifesize version of the game “Operation” but things got grosser fast with the human skin climbing wall, discovering how vomiting works with “The Vomit Center” and the down-low on farts in “Toot Toot.” My personal nasty-line was crossed with “Sniff Sniff,” that enabled visitors to smell the bacteria that cause foot, mouth, armpit and anal odor. We skipped the smelling to create burps in the “Burp Machine” and play “Urine: The Game” (or in our case, Ur-not-really-in: The Game). Similar in degree of grossness to the game we play at home when changing Vilis's diaper, I guess.

Although both boys were a bit put-off by “Nigel Nose-It-All,” the giant faucet explaining the technicalities of runny noses, they did enjoy the exhibit as a whole. I’m not sure how much time we’ll spend here during our visits to the museum because I think it’s generally meant for older children; however there are enough levers, gears and buttons for the boys to fiddle with that if they request to stop in again I’ll oblige (with nose scrunched).