Having come off a weekend with the Lions Car Show, Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival, Highland Games and Fidalgo Avenue Block Party and Pig Roast, one would think Whidbey Island already has enough festivals. One would think wrongly.
As Sunday’s Pig Roast showed on Aug. 10, islanders can always make room for another festival, particularly if there’s something free involved, such as pig. If there’s one minor criticism of the plethora of spring and summer festivals on Whidbey Island, it’s that there’s not enough free stuff. The free pig was refreshing. In the future we’d like to see one free carnival ride at the Island County Fair, one free taste of loganberry pie at the Loganberry Festival, one free mini-klompfen at Holland Happening, and one free hippie necklace at Choochokam. One can not live on free pig alone, at least not happily.
This time of year always reminds us that someone on Whidbey Island should throw a Blackberry Festival, featuring the pests we love to hate, the Himalayan and Evergreen blackberries, both of which are on the list of invasive species that taste good. They may not be natives, but they’ve established a foothold island-wide, and who can really hate something that makes possible such fine cobblers, pies and syrups? A bit seedy, perhaps, but the seeds can be strained out, either through cheesecloth or one’s teeth.
Our invasive blackberries are inspirational because early every spring islanders use everything from bulldozers to poisonous spray in a futile effort to wipe them out, and late every summer they reward us for our hostile efforts by offering sweet fruit. Blackberries take basic Christianity to another level. Not only do they turn the other leaf, but they offer a gift to those who attack them. Think of that next year when you’re reaching for your scythe.
The Whidbey Island Blackberry Festival could offer free tastes of pie and cobbler to attract tourists to the island, and for sport we could let folks take a swipe at a blackberry bush with a machete. It’s a good way to vent frustrations, and regardless of the damage done, the blackberries will return next year.
One other festival we’re lacking is the annual Mustard Festival in May, to celebrate the blooming of the mustard from Clinton to Oak Harbor. We have indigenous mustard makers who could lead teams of mustard-makers. Sell hot dogs and give tourists a variety of homemade mustards to spread over them. Generally we’re against mixing festivals with alcohol, but we might make an exception to sell locally brewed beer to cool down burning palates.
No doubt there are other festival ideas, ranging from Clam Fests to Seaweed Celebrations, that islanders could develop into full-fleged festivals. That way we can stay home every weekend, never having to go near those horrid Mainland Mall Festivals.
