Arts in the Mount

Who says you can't have culture in the middle of corn fields and fishing holes? My little town of 15,000 each August hosts the culturally profound "Dan Emmett Music & Arts Festival" on our town square and surrounding streets.

So who's Dan Emmett? I didn't know either. Here's what I learned on the festival's website: "The Festival is a celebration of American music commemorating Mount Vernon's own Daniel Decatur Emmett, the author and composer of many 19th century songs. Emmett's tunes, such as Dixie, Blue Tail Fly, Ole Dan Tucker, and Turkey in the Straw, bring back the nostalgia of our heritage in each of our hearts."

Ah, I'm feeling misty already.

Despite the fact that Dan and I aren't familiar with one another, David, Noah and I decided to check out the festival last weekend for an hour or two. Sadly, we've lived in this area three years now, and this is the first time we've made it to Mr. Emmett's big to-do.

Anyway, what convinced me to go this year is that on Sunday afternoon, the festival was showing animals from the Columbus Zoo. I thought: Perfect! Noah would love that.

We made it just in time to see:

a 34-year-old tortoise...


and a pretty-darn-young baby kangaroo. Cool.

The other high point of the festival was the car show. There were dozens of some of the snazziest, shiniest cars I've ever seen. My favorite? This 1970-something Chevy Nova in super svelte black. Puurrrr...


I felt partial to this car because I once had a Nova—a 1987(?) hatchback in powder blue. It cost about $800 when my folks bought it, and it looked a little something like this:

Yep. It was a real man-magnet.

But back to the festival...there was one other highlight for me, and I've got to say I'm a little embarrassed to admit it. As I was walking by the "everything fried" stand something caught my eye: "NEW! Deep-fried corn-on-the-cob." Huh?! They're even deep-frying COTB?

I was intrigued, so I exchanged $2 for a steaming half-ear of crispy, corny goodness. It was AMAZING. I mean really, really good. If you like corn fritters (which I've only had once in my life and loved), this is a fair treat for you! Too bad it's a heart attack on a stick, because it's fabulous.

What else was there? Bands, craft stands, tons of high-calorie food vendors, tours of our town's restored opera house and the requisite miscellaneous informational booths.

A quick view of uptown (I know, it's massive!). All in all, it was a good way to kill two hours on a BEAUTIFUL Sunday afternoon. And now I can check that off the list.