AS PROMISED the Gays Mills Spring Festival had something for everyone last weekend. Whether you attended the Folk Festival Square Dance on Friday night, like dance partners Robin Butrick and Hans Verick, above, or competed in saddle bronc riding Sunday at the Little Britches Rodeo, like Boscobel’s Tanner Basset, right, you definitely enjoyed yourself. If you stayed home this time, you really missed a good time. So, mark your calendars for next year. On Mother’s Day Weekend, you need to attend the Gays Mills Spring Festival. Whether you like old tractors, rodeo action, folk music or just socializing, there really is something for everyone.

With perfect weather for the whole weekend, everyone was in the mood to enjoy themselves and that included Nicole, Justin and Vivienne, left, who made May Crowns in Lions Park as part of the Folk Festival activities.  Later, during the May Pole Dance, the pole cracked and had to be supported by some of the participants as the dance continued. When Missy Erickson, above, pulled an Oliver 88 in the Improved Antique Class of the Old Iron Revival Antique Tractor Pull, she got a signal from her husband Chad Erickson to go four miles per hour—that’s one mile per hour faster than Antique Class. Chad put  his own advice to work a little later in the 5100-pound class pulling with the Oliver 88 and took first place. As mounted rodeo officials watched, a young cowboy, below, showed he could ride the saddle bronc quite well. It was a good day for animals of all sorts and goat number one from the goat-tying competition at the Little Britches Rodeo ate some grass next to the arena during a break in the action. To top it off, there was a massive bloom in progress all weekend, which included not only apple blossoms, but lilacs and much more. Oh how sweet it was.

Photos by Charley Preusser and Marlene Meyer

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