I strayed from my Metamoran roots tonight (yes, I’m writing this post ahead of schedule–go me!) and hit up the Washington Cherry Festival. It’s a four day festival/fair that takes over the back lots of a few old car dealerships and a Walmart backyard. It’s pretty much your standard small town fair. I met up with two of my coworkers/friends along with my coworkers husband and brother…but yea, I’d call those guys friends too ;). So anyway, we decided it would make sense for us to meet up for dinner and a few drinks at the beer tent.

Luckily we made it to the Festival just in time for the Kidz Got Talent show! After watching that for about 2.5 seconds we decided it was important for us to take a lap around the fair before we snag some food and hit the beer tent. We passed up the tempting choices of Qdoba and corndogs…

Lindsey and I settled on Cherry Tacos–I mean, that only makes sense. My taco consisted of beef brisket, peppers, onions, cheese and some cherry sauce (that you can see I squirted on my taco.) The girl who took my order clearly thought I was insane.

Allison opted for the “Walking Taco” (chili in a Fritos bag topped with cheese and sour cream) and I was obviously really pumped about trying my cherry taco. (Why does Washington love taco’s so much?) We took our treats to the beer tent so we could sit in the shade and enjoy our “meal” while we cooled off with a brew.

Yikes! The beer tent was looking a little sparse! I guess we were there a little too early for the party-ers…but who cares? We were there to eat! I can’t lie–I was really scared/nervous about eating beef brisket rolled in a tortilla with cherry sauce on top. But Linds and I dug in..what follows is a play-by-play of us trying our first bite:

 

We were unsure at first–but turns out WE LOVED IT! I never though I’d like a spicy cherry sauce on my beef brisket taco–but I did! We weren’t done with our tacos–we needed dessert. So we ventured back out to the festival and found a gem of a food stand.

Not only did this place have a sweet condiment station:

Seriously? “Squeez, Pleez our Catsup Cow”??? WHAT?? And if that didn’t grab your business, this would:

DUH! Linds and I were SOLD! A Jesus cross funnel cake was our next purchase.

It was a smidge contradictory considering we ate our cross while downing another beer. Either way, that funnel cake was awesome!! It hit the spot.

Now we were ready to explore the fair…and I can’t lie, it was pretty much like every other fair/festival.

One thing I’ve never seen at a festival–hand sanitizing stations:

Obviously we partook!

That was the last stop at the Cherry Festival. It was time for us to move on. It was so hot out..we had our fill of carnival food and a mass of people. I’m so glad that I finally “popped” my Washington Cherry. More festivals and county fairs are in my future and I cannot wait!! Get set for tomorrow.

Good night, Central Illinois.

TP

PSSSTT!! Want a budget breakdown?

Cherry Taco: $5

Fries w/salt and vinegar: $5

Cross funnel cake: $5

4 tickets for 2 beers: $4

Total: $19

Seems a little pricey–but I like to support the local communities, so I’m OK with it.