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| Azalea Festival. Semmes, Alabama. March 2022. Credit: Mzuriana. |
When I pulled onto the wet-grass ersatz parking lot, I saw folks carrying to their cars green plants. Azaleas, I presumed.
I wasn't really at the 2022 Azalea Festival for the azaleas. I have no yard; no garden. I was there for the sunshiney, springtime-in-the-offing, getting-back-to-some-kinda-normal-maybe, some live music maybe, and the potential for kettle corn.
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| Azalea Festival. Semmes, Alabama. March 2022. Credit: Mzuriana. |
Spoiler alert: No kettle corn. Oh, there was a vendor selling some bags of what they might have tried to pass off as kettle corn, but no, I didn't bite on that bait. For one, some of the kernels were dyed green. Pffft. You don't do that to kettle corn. You just don't.
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| Azalea Festival. Semmes, Alabama. March 2022. Credit: Mzuriana. |
I'm not a Christian, but the most endearing thing I saw at the festival was a Christ, standing between a purple-draped crucifix and a papier mâché cave, offering hugs with wide open arms to all passersby. I saw him enfold a man into his arms into a big ol' Jesus hug.
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| Jesus at the Azalea Festival. Semmes, Alabama. March 2022. Credit: Mzuriana. |
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| Azalea Festival. Semmes, Alabama. March 2022. Credit: Mzuriana. |
What a beautiful idea.
The scene also took me back to a day at the Sprouts Market in El Paso in 2016 or maybe early 2017. Trump had won the presidency, all sorts of racist and aggressive effluvia had poured out from the American sewer systems, and families fleeing untenable lives in Central America were being ripped apart, their children stolen from their parents.
While I walked between the big bins of fresh vegetables that day in El Paso, the Muzak played some kinda tune, maybe from back in the decades of the Vietnam War-Richard Nixon-Watergate-Oliver North-and-Iran-Contra, and this thought came: "I need a hug."
I hope Azalea Jesus gave many hugs at the festival.
Which now reminds me of Parking Lot Jesus, who restored order from grocery cart mayhem:
The city of Semmes recently rebranded itself with a new logo and stuff. This resulted in the purchase of lots of swag for residents and visitors: pens, magnets, fans, and the like. I availed myself of some bounty.
It was nice to see kiddos out doing what kiddos do on a sunny festival day.
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| Azalea Festival. Semmes, Alabama. March 2022. Credit: Mzuriana. |
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