Evil Heather: Lilac Festival...Kinda Sorta

HUGE lilac bush at Highland Park. I made Les stand next to it, but I don't think even that does it justice.

Highland Park in Rochester.

Last weekend Les and I decided to go to Rochester and check out the Lilac Festival we had been hearing so much about. It was raining, but When we got to the parking area the attendant told us that because of the weather the musical performances had been canceled and "some of the vendors have voluntarily closed up." We decided we weren't really there to see the music and the flowers would still be pretty and to chance it. So we went ahead and paid the lady $5 for parking and walked into the park.

Magnolia tree in the wind.

The rain started to pick up and by the time we made it to the lilacs it had gotten pretty windy. So most of my photos suck. But it was absolutely beautiful. I wish there was a way to capture the smell because it was unbelievable, rain and wet dirt and millions of flowers.

We wandered around and took several photos, most of which didn't turn out because of the wind and the rain. But the ones that did turn out were pretty cool because of the water droplets clinging to everything. The only photos I really wanted but didn't get were some close ups of lilacs. The wind was just too much.

Beautiful dark purple tulip in the rain.

But aside from not getting perfect photos, we had a great time. There were almost no people around, so no fighting to navigate umbrellas, no getting in people's way to take photos. And we were hoping no lines or crowds at the actual festival. Unfortunately the parking attendant was a bit conservative in her statement about the vendors, it wasn't that some of them had voluntarily closed down, they were ALL gone and so was there stuff. I think she had to have known that but she went on ahead and took our money anyway. The entire festival was abandoned, but it still smelled like funnel cake. Strange but true, funnel cake and lilac, two great smells that smell great together.

Abandoned festival grounds, origin of the funnel cake smell.

After we arrived at the festival area and found it empty, the wind and the rain started to pick up. So much so that we had to put the cameras away and use both hands to keep our umbrellas from flying away. By the time we got back to the car, ours was the only one in the entire lot. We were also completely soaked. Our shoes were completely full of water, our pants were completely saturated all the way up to our knees. We couldn't stop laughing about it.

But I loved the rain, I loved seeing the park without the bother of hundreds of other people, I loved how pretty the flowers were with the raindrops clinging to them, but most of all I loved tromping through the rain with Les. It was a wonderful weekend. But we will definitely try again next year for a more traditional Lilac Festival experience.