It may be the second day of summer in most of the country but Montana didn’t seem to get the message. But our family didn’t let that stop us from our plans. We put on our long pants, boots and rain coats and headed out to the Farmers Market and Watershed Festival.
We have two Farmers Markets in town. One on Tuesday nights and one on Saturday mornings. They are night and day from each other. I’ll have to post about them later but let’s just say one is all about eating and the other is all about goods.
After leaving the Farmer’s Market, we headed to the Watershed Festival. It is a free event that has been happening for 21 years with lots of exhibitor booths and fun activities.
The very first highlight for Liam, though, was riding the school bus shuttle just to get to the festival. Fun fact: ALL school buses in Bozeman have seat belts!
We spent the 45 degree, rainy morning fishing, racing toy ducks, visiting the different booths, and eating lunch.
The Rubber Duck Derby
The rubber duck derby was one of the things that Liam was most excited about. We bought five rubber ducks and they raced down a water shute. I was extremely impressed with it too. It wasn’t just a long row of water. It had all sorts of traps and obstacles for the ducks to go through including a duck cannon!
Two of Liam’s ducks were in first and second place. One of his ducks had a huge lead over all the others until it got caught up in one of the obstacles. Only then did we realize that his other duck then took the lead….and won!
It was quite the entertainment. Like all good competitions, the winning ducks went on to the finals. Liam (and me…ha!) were psyched. This time, our luck was not so great and we were one of the last ones in.
It was then my son had to learn that he can’t win every time. He has a difficult time with that concept. Just the other day, he cried outside our grocery store because we didn’t win the game of Monopoly we had been playing with them for the last few months. “Just ask them for a prize pllleeeeeeaaase!” he cried.
He did get a bottle of bubbles for being first in his heat though. But, sadly, we won’t be rafting down the river as the grand-prize winner will.
The Fishing Derby
The fishing derby is the true highlight of the festival. We have been to this pond many times. It was last year that I had been buying some meat from the local meat market. The cashier asked me if I’d taken Liam to feed the fish. He explained that the Bozeman Fish Technology Center had a trout pond with food to feed the fish with.
And, man, what a fun experience. Those fish are ALWAYS hungry. And they are HUGE!
So when I saw that Liam was going to be able to fish the pond at the Watershed Festival, I made sure to put it on the calendar.
The pond was surrounded by families fishing. Bobbers were floating all over the water. And it seemed a fish was being caught almost every minute. Inwardly, I was feeling very, very sorry for all of those fish. It was not a good day for them.
We went and grabbed a rod and set off for the pond.
After a few casts and watching fish be caught all around him, Liam began to get a bit discouraged. He doesn’t quite have his dad’s patience of waiting for the fish.
A few more casts and one location change later, he caught two huge ones.
The awesome thing about this festival was that each child got to keep two fish. Much to Liam’s disappointment, though, he did not get to keep them alive in his bathtub.
A Fisherman’s Dinner
What else is a fisherman with two fresh rainbow trout to do? Eat them for dinner of course. And that’s just what we (well, Matt) did.
That’s about as close to hunter and gatherer as this family gets…but it was fun.
I have no doubt we’ll head back to the Watershed Festival again next year. A perfect activity for those with young children for sure!
If you missed our last family adventure, be sure to check it out here.
And, if you are local to Montana and have hiked the M, be sure to feed the fish at the Bozeman Fish Technology Center across the street. All you need is a quarter. Cheap entertainment for sure!