A glorious day!

The Hudson Valley 40th Anniversary Earth Day Celebration flew into the Dutchess County Fairgrounds today and came to a nearly perfect landing!

The day was perfect. Cool but not too cold in the morning and warm but not too warm in the afternoon. Gorgeous sun. A light breeze.

From 7:30 a.m. until a minute before we opened the gates to the public, the venue was a hive of busyness...green companies tweaking their booth setups to make them as attractive as possible to our visitors; farmers hauling everything from live chickens to artisanal cheeses, eggs, herbs, veggies, fruit, wine and more into their market spaces; kids' showpeople polishing their acts; and musicians tuning their axes.

And then the doors opened and the fun began! Families came and stayed for hours. Last time I got into the Maker Square area, it was literally COVERED with kids (I mean like ON THE FLOOR) cutting, sewing, hammering, pasting, making stuff. They were there all afternoon! Pony rides galore. Tons of great music! Rain barrels were made and hoisted onto shoulders and taken back to cars, whose occupants just strolled back in and kept going. Everything was well attended, and virtually everyone said they had a great time (well, there's always ONE or TWO people...but I'm not focusing on that here...)!!

The vendors said they had a great day, our visitors looked tired and happy when they left, the farmers got more business than they expected, the food demos were eaten out of house and home (or the demo kitchen!), the ponies were busy giving kids rides all day, the hayrides were full up every time they clipclopped out of the gate.

For this little event planner, it was awesome (and not a little surreal) to see it all come to life and everyone having a great time.

Tomorrow's day two. And even though the weather forecast isn't great, it shouldn't matter. This event is almost 100% indoors throughout five buildings the size of airplane hangars. There's SO much to do, you won't notice the few drops that splash on you as you run across the way from building to building.

If you had fun on a sunny day, wait until you've got all that space and activity for your kids on a rainy day!

Rain or shine, tomorrow we're doin' it all again, and you'll have an awesome time.