Editorial • Farley Fest

    As I strolled the grounds of Lake Farley in Milbank Friday and Saturday to take pictures of the Farley Fest activities it was heartening to see so many people out enjoying the events planned.
    In recent years the activities have been spread out over several weekends, and in my estimation that diminished the crowds. The variety of activities planned for the weekend this year had something for everyone, and young and old alike seemed to be enjoying the festival. The more variety, the more people.
    Kudos to the Milbank Area Chamber of Commerce for their efforts and to all the volunteers who pitched in to help with the events. The ski show was wonderful and the dog show performances seemed to delight everyone. The weather cooperated, although the rain showers on Friday morning threatened to put a damper on the festivities. Luckily the skies cleared and it was near perfect weather for all the events including the cornhole tournament and car show.
    Waiving an entry fee for vendors boosted the number of arts in the park vendors and proved to be a very good idea. The number of vendors at recent Farley Fests has been very small.
    There are a few things I could complain about including the goose droppings on the shoreline of the lake and the mosquitos. I doubt there is anything that can be done about the droppings. I’m sure I won’t be volunteering to pick it up. The geese like Lake Farley just as much as we humans do, and I don’t think they will be leaving anytime soon.
    All the rain we’ve received this summer has been ideal for the mosquito population, and even though the area was sprayed prior to the concert they were out in force Saturday evening. Volunteers were armed with repellant spray and handed it out as soon as the sun went down, for which I was very grateful. That showed advance planning by someone. Thank you.
    I believe it was the best festival in recent years, and congratulate all those who were involved. Now bring the Qfest and burnout back into the same weekend and the fest will once again be an outstanding event to draw in the crowds.