The Future Festival, which was held at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Washington State, was both informative and lots of fun. I left in Toynota late Friday afternoon in the accompaniment of Dennis Brandt and his Apocalypticop car. As you might imagine, we made quite the spectacle traveling the 3+ hours it took to get to the event. He led the way, so I was able to watch all the responses to his car. We joked that if you combined the cars, splitting the difference in concepts, you'd end up with a vanilla station wagon that might hold the Brady Bunch.

The weekend's entertainment was keynoted by the fantastic New Old Time Chautauqua, which has entertained throughout the Pacific NW and the world for over 30 years. What great fun to hang out with those super-creative folks, some of whom I've known for years and others who I just met over the weekend.

What fun to combine art cars with learning about some of the latest ideas in planning for our future. Exhibitors included alternative energy firms, recycling information, bee-keeping, an assortment of high-mileage and electric vehicles from Western Washington University's Vehicle Research Institute and much more.

A personal favorite was the wonderfully well-crafted polar bear from Vashon Island. Personable and friendly, it paraded throughout the grounds and visited with young and old on both days of the Festival. The acrobatic performances by Ariel, Orlando and Shannon were also fantastic. Well, actually, it all was!

The Festival was definitely a family attraction, so there were plenty of kids crawling around and playing with the toys on Toynota, which was there both Saturday and Sunday. In addition, the NW art car scene was represented on Saturday by Kelly Lyles 'Xcessories Odyssey' and Dennis Brandt's 'Apocalypticop.' On Sunday, Kirby brought her Seattle-based yin/yang camo VW bug to the event.

I put together a slide show of some of the best photos from the weekend. Here's the link. (Note the slide show will open into a new window.)

Use the embedded links below to view a couple of brief YouTube videos from the event. The one below offers some wonderful 'pin juggling' by some folks in front of the art cars. If anyone knows the names of the jugglers, one of whom is on very tall stilts, let me know so I can 'tag' them. It ends with me, the cameraman, underneath their juggling pins.

This next video is of one of the Chautauqua parades around the grounds. The New Old Time Chautauqua members let two parades a day, in addition to a number of performances on two stages AND pitching in to help others learn to perform. What a great resource we have in them! I marched in the parades, as well as played along with one of the bands on stage, with my new 'raccoon rubboard.'

Thanks again to the other art car folks who brought their cars, as well as to my new and old friends in the New Old Time Chautauqua.

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