Friday, April 10, 2009

Pear Blossom Weekend



This is the weekend of the Pear Blossom Festival in Medford, Oregon. The Parade and Running events will be tomorrow. . The street fair is opening today at 3 PM and will be open all day on Saturday only one block from my office in downtown Medford. On the way in to work this morning I saw them setting up for it in Vogal Park. I may go over there after work and get dinner on the way home. We will come back to the office on Saturday to watch the parade unless it is raining very hard. Though the years we have watched the parade in 80 degree temperatures and in other years in pouring rain. I am getting to old to stand out in the pouring rain for anything other than an Oregon Duck football game.I do enjoy these community events although it was more fun when the kids were living at home and sometimes marching in the parade or running in the various runs. They have a "fun run" and a longer one for real runners. Portland has their Rose Festival, New Orleans has Marti Gras, Ashland has the 4th of July Parade and Medford has the Pear Blossom Festival.

The Pear Blossom Festival was started to celebrate the pear orchards that surround Medford and were a major industry . Unfortunately the orchards have lost their importance but the Pear Blossom Festival is still going strong as an event the unites the community. In times like this that is comforting.