Catherine attends a street festival

[Catherine]

This is the weekend of the local street festival called Big On Bloor. Bloor street will be closed off for many blocks and thousands of people will visit the many different exhibits and booths.

I will be working at the reptile centre booth. We will do a two day reptile show. It is a chance to let people see reptiles up close and even touch and hold them. It is an opportunity to educate people about animals that are very misunderstood. When people touch a snake for the first time they are surprized. The skin is soft and dry. Many people believe that snakes are slimy. They feel like very fine silk. They are not at all what people expect.

I will be doing a corn snake show since corn snakes are my first love. We will have a number of snakes ready and no one snake will be out on display, being handled for more than a short time. I keep switching them so they rest between handling.

I won't get much rest and I will probably forget to eat.

I am going to help set up and get things ready on Friday night. I helped get out tables and other festival supplies out on Wednesday. Someone had put them under the basement stairs after  the last festival and I am the only one small enough to crawl in there and pass things out to people.

It will be tiring, but it will be fun. Thousands of people will talk to us and actually encounter a reptile. Any time you can educate people about animals it is a good thing.

I will keep you posted.

[LPC]

Hope it goes well. Lots of photos, please.

[Tobi]

Big on Bloor sounds like such fun! I know you will all have a lovely day. Just get a good breakfast before you go and you will be fine. Then dinner when you come home. And take some fruit with you, like bananas or apples etc. That will keep you going all day.

I hope it isn't too hot for you over the weekend, or you get a place where there is good shade.

"Where' ere you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade....
Trees where you sit shall crowd into a shade....!"

Have a lovely day all of you.

[Catherine]

It should be fun. I made sure we got all the tables and stuff out and they are ready to be set up in the morning.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...61d69Peogw

It is exceptionally hot, but we have big umbrellas for shade. I will need to drink lots of water and there will be snacks in the frig at the reptile centre.  We will be set up right outside the door.

Big On Bloor is an arts and culture festival. So do you think the reptiles are an arts  event or are the a cultural event.

[Catslave.]

Sounds like a lot of fun my grandkids would love something like so would I just keep your fluids up that's the most important thing to do.

[AnimalFamily]

Today is the big day. I'll bet you hit the floor running this morning
Have fun and stay cool!!
We will be waiting to hear how everything went.

[Catherine]

I am running late, but I have sunscreen, water, salty snacks and the all important heat sensor that can tell me how warm a snake is.
I don't want anyone to get heat stroke.

There is a major heat advisory, but it really feels like summer.


PS: Running late for me means I will not be really early.

[Tobi]

(07-24-2016, 01:52 AM)Catherine Wrote: PS: Running late for me means I will not be really early.

  That sounds like me all the time Catherine! I think people who run late are not used to the Earth's 24-hour system an may have memories of places where the day was 36 or 48 hours long! haha!
I find time always goes too fast for me, from morning to night.

By the time you read this you will be back I suppose. I hope you all had a great day.
If it gets too hot, would the snakes be able to cool off in some water? Some snakes like swimming....but I have no idea if Corn Snakes do. I was thinking a 5 litre water container and a washing-up bowl.... but that might all be too much to carry if you don't go by car.

[Catherine]

It was so hot that we couldn't take most of the reptiles outside.  I didn't bring my own snakes because it was too hot to get them to the reptile centre.

We did have bearded dragons and Southern Pine Snakes on display. People loved the Pine Snakes. I am amazed at how many hundreds of people want to hold a snake. We brought out a succession of Ball Pythons and they had fun  with the people. 

We had our center pet Iguana outside for awhile. When she decided that she had done enough she just went back on her own. There was no stopping her. Iris knows her own mind.

It was after 6 pm before it was cool enough to bring out the corn snakes. They are my favorite. People love corn snakes. They are friendly and pretty and really social.

What a day. I did manage to get a gecko henna painted on my arm and I had some hand made coffee ice-cream.
Street festivals are fun.  My poor feet are tired and they were really dirty. 

I will be back out there tomorrow for another day of fun.

[Catherine]

Sunday was even busier. I can't remember how many questions I answered and how many people wanted to touch and hold the snakes I had on display. We worked to educate people about reptiles. We also try to encourage people to see all animals as thinking and feeling creatures who should be treated well.

After it was over we still had to clean up and I stayed to clean up the animals and make sure they all had water.

Now I am home and my piggies are fed and I am cleaned up....and I am so tired. I didn't sit down either day. I am still drinking water to make up for the intense heat. I think I will sleep late tomorrow.


It was a really successful festival. We are already talking about next year.