Mule Day

Dale, Jessica, and I went to Mule Day up in Calvary, GA, a few weekends ago. I hadn't been since I was a child, so I was excited to experience it with an adult perspective.

Dale, and others, told me that we needed to get there early... like 6:00 a.m. early.... in order to snag a good parking spot. So I set the alarm for 4:30 a.m. so we would have time to wake up and make the 30 minute drive up there. When the alarm went off, however, it was quickly reset for 6:00 a.m. It's just not right to get up that early on a Saturday!

We arrived around 8:00 a.m. and it was already pretty crowded. We paid $5.00 to park in the middle of a pecan orchard, but it was relatively close. We made our way down a narrow road toward a huge field filled with tents in the foreground and campers behind.

Mule Day was huge. It was totally different from my childhood recollection. All I remembered, actually, was seeing harnessed mules attached to a pole of some sort following a circle path beat into the dirt. They were grinding sugar cane into molasses.

I was hoping Jessica would get to see that as well, but there wasn't any sugar cane making going on; at least as far as I could tell. Instead, there were lots of food and craft booths and a stage where different groups of cloggers danced to what seemed to be the same song... something country.

People were selling everything from quilts, to Christmas ornaments, to hats, to beautiful fused glass (my personal favorite). Someone was actually selling a "bottle tree" which consisted of a pole with dowels extending off (like a tree) with plastic bottles stuck on the ends. Who would pay money for that? Dale wondered how bottle trees were grown so I told him they started out as baby bottles. [Okay, I know that was pretty bad].

We walked around until our feet hurt, stopping to buy sugared pecans, fudge, back scratchers, and miscellaneous other items. We decided we had better leave before the parade began at 11:00 a.m.; otherwise we would be stuck until it was over because the parade route went between the field and the exit road.

We were too slow, however, and had to wait until it was over. Luckily we didn't have too long of a wait. As I was watching the myriad of horseback riders and mules pulling wagons make their way up the parade route, I laughed as a teenage girl rode past me while talking on her cell phone. It seemed strange to have cell phone usage and horseback riding together in one parade. What could be so important that her phone call couldn't wait until after the parade?

At least 60,000 people attend Mule Day each year. About 20,000 were leaving with us after the parade, just as the other 40,000 were arriving. It was a mad dash to get back to the car and get out ahead of the others.

The main drag through Calvary is a two-lane road, so you can imagine the traffic jam. Both lanes of traffic were backed up as far as you could see and even further... and both were at a complete stand still (well our lane was moving more than the lane into Calvary). Surprisingly, it only took us about 15 minutes to get out of the chaos. I felt sorry for the semi driver obviously passing through and unaware of Mule Day. He looked very unhappy as we passed him. And we saw people parking as far as two miles away.

Now I know why they say get there early.