See you in Arcola!

Well, I looked up some more about Arcola. All I can say is that it's pretty stereotypically small-town. After reading about it, I have made a solemn promise to never call C-U or Mahomet or Savoy "rural" because Arcola is WAY more so! The funny thing is, the advocates with urban origins are the ones doing the display and workshop, so we're all in the same boat pretty much.

The highlight of this Broom Corn Festival is the Lawn Rangers. I don't know if I'm doing the booth or workshop on the day they perform, but they seem like something else entirely! Apparantly, it is a "high-precision, lawn mowing drill team" that does stunts! Dave Barry was one of them for a while, and he's written several columns about his experiences.

Somehow, I don't think he's making anything up.

This is either gonna be entertaining or "are-you-kidding-me." I mean, how do you do stunts with a lawn mower? I know I've mowed my lawn at home before, but the most exciting thing that I've done there is try to avoid the rocks and my mom's plants. Not that thrilling. So how do the Rangers do it? Do they push the mowers and do formations with them? Do they RIDE the mowers and do tricks atop them? And what does it have to do with broom corn?

[Oh yeah, and I found out what broom corn is. It's decorative corn that you can't eat. You can use it for brooms and industrial purposes if you like, but it's not edible. What do Lawn Rangers and broom corn have in common? Guess I find out Sunday!]