Penny and I heard about this festival for the first time this year. We decided we had to check it out. It was a little pricey, 15$ admission. It's in a park in Peoria, Rio Vista and we had to park probably at least 3/4 of a mile away. But it was fun and interesting to check out. These two Pandas were available for photos. Penny is the one on the right.
This pond had lit cranes and water lilies.
Lots of origami cranes
And Panda piggy banks.
You can see how big these "lanterns" are.
Some of the entertainment
This was all about the Chinese new year. This is the money tree. I need one of these.
This was the god of prosperity.
The god of happiness
The god of longevity
This guy brings sons to homes who don't have one.
The seven horses have to do with agriculture and harvest.
Peking Opera mask.
A bunch of musicians.
The tiger's light was out.
Snow white and the seven dwarves had a definite Asian look.
this guy looked like Pinocchio instead of a dwarf.
Double white elephants bring good luck.
The flower fairy
The goldfish bring wealth.
The monkey king.
Tae Kwan Do demonstration.
The god of wealth.
The wishing tree. You could write a wish and tie it to the tree.
A mah jong demonstration. The guy in the jacket was working hard at understanding what was going on.
Today, Penny and I went to one of the Rodeo performances for the Parada Del Sol. It was lots of fun! On the way in, there was a bird rescue organization with several birds on hand. It was cool to see.
We had great front row seats! But the action is so fast, that a lot of my photos are blurry. Still it's fun.
Bareback bronc riding.
This was scary. This guy got his hand stuck in the rope. He fell off, but his hand was still stuck and he was drug around quite a while, while folks were trying to help him. Thank goodness he was able to keep on his feet most of the time, but it was scary and sobering. He has to have done some damage to his hand. Thank goodness it was the only injury we were aware of.
Lots of spectacular falls
Cute cowboys come in cute cowboy outfits.
An official
Steer tying
These guys were great. They rode alongside the bucking horse and pulled the guy off. Then they got the bucking strap off the animal and got them out of the arena.
The entertainment. This guy had Watutsi cattle from Africa. Huge horns. He had them trained to jump up on the truck and then the trailer.
Bull Riding
Barrel racing
