Ruston Family Fair Recap

Between the busyness of the day, I managed to capture a few images of our annual Ruston Family Fair. We had a great turn out, three times as many vendors, lots of food, horse-drawn wagon rides, great games for the kids, face painting, a mouth-watering baking contest, strong support from our fire and police departments, a history stroll thru town, beautiful Cadillacs, delicious cupcake walk donated by Hello Cupcake and even a couple of surprises. Miss Wheelchair USA Jenny Adams came to visit and Jesse Fontenot provided excellent music for us. Thank you to Ruston-Point Defiance Business District for bringing us the event, the Commencement for sponsoring the wagon rides and to Beth Torbet, LILT, Holland Cohen and so many more for all the work to make this happen.

The day kicked off with a history walk thru Ruston by the Tacoma Historical Society.

Holland Cohen put in many hours preparing old-fashioned kids games for the day.

Every participant even won a won a prize!

Ms. Schoneker won first prize with her delicious apple pie.

Spectacular face painting was provided by JuJu Designs, and it was a great day to show off your pets!

Jenny Adams brought an extra ray of sunshine and class to the afternoon.

Jesse Fontenot won many new fans and melted a few young hearts with his skilled singing.

You know you have arrived as a festival if the Sonic guy comes. We have arrived!

Dust Off Those Aprons

It's time to prepare for our second annual baking contest, part of the Ruston Family Fair fun. It was a tough competition last year and things should be even more competitive this year. And we get to eat the entries this year!

First place prize is $100 cash, so get the ovens warmed up, aprons cleaned and let the baking begin! Entries along with the $10 entry fee are due at Don's Ruston Market by 1:30pm on Fair Day (August 10th), judging begins at 2:30pm. Entry forms are available at Don's. More details are on the Ruston-Point Defiance Business District web page via this link.

2013 Ruston Family Fair

Mark your calendars now, the 2013 Ruston Family Fair is coming to beautiful downtown Ruston once again this summer on Saturday, August 10th from 11am til 4pm. Vendors, artist, yummy food service folks are invited to join the fun. More details and contract form available here...

Your Input Needed

The Ruston-Point Defiance Business District put on the Ruston Family Fair last month. The committee that did the work is asking for feedback on how to improve the event for next year. If you attended, let us know what you liked and didn't like. If you didn't come down, let us know why and if you were even aware of the event.

You can post a comment here, or email me at Karen.Pickett.mba@gmail.com. Thanks for the input!

More Ruston Family Fair Pictures

As always, our volunter fire fighters were first to arrive and last to leave, helping set up and tear down for the fair Saturday. Along with our police officers, they were there all day long to greet, answer questions and build our community. Thanks for a job well done!

Ready to respond

Helping set up the Divas dunk tank

Fire department displays and root beer floats fundraiser

More Party Pics

Face Painting

Cupcake Walk

Baking Contest Prep

Ruston Family Fair and Car Show

Plenty of good old-fashioned rag-tag fun was had by all in Ruston this weekend. Saturday was the annual Cadillac LaSalle car show and the first annual Ruston Family Fair. Dozens of classic cars lined up in the grassy median along Winnifred - with the final block dedicated to the fair.

Many Ruston streets saw their first horse and wagon in over a century as riders young and old rode around town. Pets paraded in their best outfits. Bakers brought their glorious creations for judging. Local kids rode their bikes down for the obstacle course set up by the police. Rootbeer floats and popcorn helped raise money for the fire department. Kids played old-fashioned field games. Lucky winners danced away with specialty cupcakes. The Boy Scouts demonstrated their homemade rockets. The Divas got dunked. Food, shopping, fun and plenty of sunshine rounded out the special day.

I was camera-less for the day, so I'll be collecting photos and posting them soon. It was a great start but feedback is appreciated. Please comment with suggestions for improvement. And thanks to everyone for coming down for the party!

Kato the wonderdog took 2nd place in the costume contest.

First place pet costume winner.

Baking Contest Winners

Bike safety rodeo in progress

Baking contest entrants

Baking contest winner

Get The Apron!

It's time to break out the aprons and warm up the oven! The Ruston Family Fair is bringing back the old-fashioned competition normally only seen at the county fairs - a baking contest. The Ruston version will feature a first place prize of $100 and be judged by experts from Stadium Thriftway.

An entry fee of $10 is needed and only pies, cakes, cobblers and tarts may be entered. So break out grandma's famous recipe and bring it to the Fair on August 11th. You just might win!

Ruston Family Fair Latest

Plans are coming together for the Ruston Family Fair and Cadillac LeSalle Car Show on August 11th. Today's addition is a new blog to keep you up to speed on the latest happenings and event details. The address for the blog is http://rustonfamilyfair.blogspot.com. We still have room for vendors - only $50 for booth space + $10 fee from the town. Call Beth Torbet at (253) 381-1858 to sign up. Here are the latest plans:

• Cadillac LeSalle Car Show
• Wagon Rides sponsored by The Commencement
• Face Painting by JuJu Designs
• Pet Costume Contest by Secondhand Hound
• Old-fashioned Kids Games by Ladies Workout Express
• Bike Safety Rodeo by Ruston Police
• Baking Contest (Cash Prize)
• Cupcake Walk for Kids
• Boy Scout Demonstrations
• Music - Food - Vendors

Plan on joining the fun!!!

It's Official

The Ruston-Point Defiance Music Fest is suspended for this year. Like many other local festivals, the economic downturn has translated into fewer sponsors. Without the financial backing, the business district voted last month to redirect their energies toward street scape improvements and help for the proposed Ruston farmer's market.

The festival has been traditionally held in early September and last year featured 4 music stages. Each of the 4 years the festival saw consistent growth in attendance, vendors and music. The district hopes to bring back the event in the future.

Ruston-Point Defiance Music Fest Faces Challenge

Ruston has enjoyed a great music festival each fall for the last several years ~ thanks to the volunteer efforts of our local Ruston-Point Defiance Business District. Last year featured 4 stages and many local artists. As with any event, it takes cash to make the show. One of the cornerstone sponsorships has been a $5,000 grant from Pierce County each year, sponsored by Council Member Tim Farrell (for which the district has been very, very grateful).

But with budget cuts across the board, no grants are available this year. Other major sponsors have been local developers, who may be feeling the current economic challenges as well. The district very much wants to keep the momentum building for our Ruston-Point Defiance Music Fest. What ideas might you have to help carry through this year? What about past events should be retained, what should be dropped? Any ideas on other sponsors?

You can comment here with your suggestions or email district president James Bennett at americanmemory@msn.com. Thanks for your help!

Festival Fun

As many of you know, Ginger Kryger is a longtime Ruston resident who is very talented in both pottery art and gardening, among other things. Ginger and her friend Karen are bringing a raku artist to the music fest this year (Saturday, September 6th). Here is some background on the art and plans for our celebration to wet your appetite!

American raku is not like the original Japanese raku or regular glaze-fired ceramics. In American raku, the bisque-fired pieces are decorated with particular types of glazes and quickly fired to 2000 degrees or so. Once the glaze is properly melted, the pieces are removed from the kiln immediately—while they are still hot! The pots are placed in cans with straw, leaves or newspaper. Once this flammable material ignites, lids are clamped down. There is flame and smoke and then the hardest part—waiting. The end result is vibrant and smokey metallic-flashed blues, greens, copper or crackled glazes. These pieces are not for food use or to hold flowers. Each one is a work of art.

The F.I.N.E. Mudhens have contracted with Clay Art Center to do a raku firing for the Music Festival. There will be two men with two kilns and all the supplies necessary to decorate and fire pots. We will have small (ish) bisque-fired ceramic pieces available for the public to purchase and decorate for about $10. The raku artists from Clay Art will do the actual firing of decorated pieces. The public can stay and watch the process or return in 45 minutes or so to retrieve their decorated pieces. I believe the raku firers will be available for about 6 hours. It is really hot and tiring work.

Sounds wonderful! Hope you'll join us!
Karen

Calling All Artists!

The 4th Annual Point Defiance Music Fest is now scheduled for September 6th. There will be great music all day, food, Kids Zone, artists in action and YOU! Sign up for your own booth (only $50) by clicking here.

We had 10,000 folks attend last year. This year will be even better ~ bring family and friends for a great celebration!