I knew we were in for a treat the moment I came to the entrance to Carmangay. It was all decked out with a pink horse (cut out) and a bunch of other pink stuff. And then, all along the mile (or so) of entrance road, every single tree had a pink ribbon tied around it and every fence post had a pink ribbon cut out!
And then we got into town … and every tree had a pink ribbon on it! They told me later that the “tree people” had put a pink ribbon on every tree in town (except those on the property of people who were away). That’s a lot of trees, and a huge whack of pink ribbons!
There were pink decorations everywhere. Every business. Many homes. Lots of people. This community pulled together and it showed.
So our riders pulled into the camp ground and got ready to ride. It was a soggy day with a constant drizzle. Not enough to stop the ride, but just enough to make the ride “interesting”. They went for 3 or 4 hours and came back cold but happy.
This is the town that decided to do a big bonfire and asked that riders bring their ukulele if they had one! (Okay they didn’t specify “ukuleles”. *grin*) But because of the drizzle, it was decided to move the festivities into their curling rink instead. That turned out to be a wise move because in the evening we got two really spectacular rain showers (in the sunshine).
My goodness does Carmangay know how to have a good time! After our barbecue, we had a “loonie auction”. What fun! You have to pay a loonie for every time you bid on an item. (Little kids run around with buckets to collect all the loonies.) For every bid you make you are given a number to remember. When the bidding closes, an iPhone is used to choose a random number between 1 and however many bids were made. If your number is drawn, you win the item. So it likely cost you somewhere between $1 and $10, but the item racked up a goodly amount of money in the meantime. Nifty idea! I have no idea how much they made, but it ought to be good based on how briskly the bidding went.
It was an early night with no bonfire due to the sogginess (though the sky had cleared off by the time we went “home”).
Carmangay pancakes, eggs and sausages in the morning and away we went. Look out, Stirling! This town is going to be a serious contender for Pinkest Little Town, I think. (Remembering that I am not one of the Pinkification Judges, so my opinion doesn’t count.)
Wild Pink Yonder 