The Quinn's Awesome Journey: 3/13/2010 Ostriches' & Camels & Emu’s, Oh My!

What a fun day we had today! We had our choice of activities today and I think we made the right one. We could have gone to the Picacho Peak Civil War Reenactment but,,,,been there done that 2 years ago. We could have to the Renaissance Faire with neighbors and that was very tempting but we did just go to that last year so we passed on that. We ended up following friends, Bill and Donna, to Chandler to attend The Ostrich Festival. What a fun day!!!

We took off around 9:30a.m. for the 40 mile trek to Chandler. An easy run as we took I-10 all the way. I enjoyed taking in all the green on the desert floor. Did I think to raise the camera on my lap and snap a picture to show how the brown of the desert has turned into a green oasis? Noooooo! Thank heavens LaVon was out and about and DID snap some pics. I snagged this one, with permission of course, to show our green. A welcome change to be sure!

So we arrive at the Tumbleweed Park where the Ostrich Festival is in full swing. This festival, in its 21st year, is held to celebrate what once was a prominent part of Chandler history. Ostrich farms in Chandler led the nation in raising ostriches for their expensive and stylish plumes.

Ostrich feathers were used to adorn popular women's fashions back in the day. Top quality feathers sold for as much as $250.00 a pound.

I don’t remember kiddie rides being so colorful.

There is total carnival atmosphere here complete with rides, side shows, booths and plenty of food.

I wouldn’t like this ride, I don’t like hanging upside down.

The first attraction we stopped at was the Ham Bone Express or more commonly known as the “pig races”.

While waiting for the race to start this little cutie kept me entertained.

It wasn’t long before the pigs were brought out and we heard the words “They’re off!”

….and around the turn they go….

The winner got the Oreo Cookie waiting at the finish line and the losers got…..crumbs.

We then made a beeline for the arena area so that we could get bleacher seats for the main attraction. After all, this is the main reason we came here, to see the ostrich races!

Since we had a half hour wait until the show started, Donna and I took the opportunity to go picture taking of the animals in this area.

I said to this camel….”Come on, smile for me” and this is what I got.

This is one happy camel….another view. Look how they bend their legs to lay down.

This one paid me no mind at all.

Next stop was the ostriches.

Did you know.....

The ostrich is the largest living bird in the world
It is of the Ratite family, which means flightless bird
Adult males are eight to ten feet in height and weigh 350-400 pounds
The male is black with white wing tips and tail plumes
A male ostrich is called a rooster and female is called a hen
The female has brown and grey plumage and is slightly smaller than the male
This bird has two toes whereas all others have three or four
The ostrich can run at speeds up to 40 mpg for sustained times
An ostrich will live to be 50 - 75 years old
An ostrich egg is the largest of all eggs but is the smallest in relation to the bird
Ostrich eggs take 42 days to hatch, females sit on them by day and males at night
Ostrich farming is an alternative agriculture industry with fine quality leather, feather and gourmet meat as the principal products.

Now you know all about ostriches!

Donna and I walked back to the entrance to get a beer for Bob only to find out the beer truck wasn’t operating yet. One good thing, I got a good look at this unusual water feature in the park.

Of course the show started off with the presentation of Old Glory.

It was time for the races to begin!

I can’t remember when I laughed so hard. Watching the jockey’s hang on is funny no matter how you look at it! You can see one of them has already lost his rider.

I can’t even imagine trying to hold on by the wings!

After the races we got to watch these kids, picked from the audience, chase the emu that had the same color neckerchief as they were given. Oh my gosh, once again, we laughed so hard at these kids chasing these birds to the finish line.

After the winner here was determined we found we weren’t done with birds yet…..but we had never seen birds like these!

We thought we were done with ostriches but then we found it was time for chariot races.

The camels races came next.

Races finally over it was time to see what else the festival had to offer. When we got to the entrance to the arena again we saw that people were getting served beer from the beer truck stationed there by servers wearing ostrich hats.

Bob wanted one and what he had to go through to get one was just unbelievable! One couldn’t just go up and offer up a five dollar bill for the 16 ounce plastic cup filled with the amber liquid. Oh, no! Bob had to hand over his ID, in this case his driver’s license, it had to be scanned and then a wristband put on him.

Now folks, my Bob is a handsome man but he is still 61 years old and there is no mistaking that he is of legal age to buy a beer. We could only think that the scanning of the driver’s license was to see if it was legal and that possibly this was a way to catch illegal aliens with fake ID’s. That thought is probably way out in left field but it did go through our minds.

After all this and he still couldn’t get a beer. It seems you had to buy a ticket in order to get a beer and the tickets hadn’t been delivered as yet. Enough people were complaining so they finally agreed to take cash only if you had the correct change.