today was the city of green cove springs (aka the gem of the first coast) "riverfest" in association with "clay county's sesquicentennial" (150th anniversary). riverfest is their annual memorial day celebration.

GCS is the third smallest town, roughly 6,387, that i've lived in (lavaca the second...2,128, cedarville the first and smallest town EVER...1,214)

when you visit the green cove springs website, you'll notice that the memorial day celebration is one of their biggest events of the year.

that, in and of itself, should sum everything up. but you know what? so what!

it was a nice morning down on the st. john's river. a nice day to walk the pier and/or shoreline, sit under shady spanish moss, and enjoy the cool river breezes.

there were street vendors of food...i was surprised to see the diversity of choices...vietnamese, mexican, and of course, good ole fashioned bbq.

the "arts and crafts" was varied, and tho impressive, not much there overall.

the annual student artwalk was sparse, to say the least. and the young girl in charge of walking you through said that not many students entered this year.

i did get to see the inside of the courthouse. lovely, really, and my photo just didn't do it justice.

but i wandered the sidewalks at spring park, watched some hunky firemen demonstrate "the jaws of life" and noticed the new half-a-mill condos waiting for buyers that had been built on the st. john's shores (complete with boat slip)

i sat for awhile on a picnic table just enjoying the river, the breezes, and people watching.

bethany had come over yesterday asking me if i was going. i told her yes, but i was doing it early because the light is better for picture-taking. she told me to take my phone and she was going to try to get christopher up early...but, alas, she didn't. i've already come home and they have yet to wake up.

and of course, any trip "downtown" (ok, that makes me chuckle) would not be complete without a nice yuingling from ronnie's oysters.

i do love to people watch and boy, did i see some people.

anyhow, the pic up top is their annual "parade of flags" they fill the park grounds with wooden crosses and flags of every gcs resident who have given their life for this country.

beyond the flags, you'll notice the public swimming pool. on this day, everyone swims for free. the pool is filled with the natural springs, (to the right, just past the big tree, you can see the springs reservoir) for which the town was named. and believe me, when you walk by, you can smell the sulfer. they claim to not use any chlorine, so you can imagine how bad you will smell when you get out of that pool.

beyond the pool is a small waterfall that flows out to the st. john's. you can just see the river in the distance.

btw, the st. john's is one of only 32 rivers in the world that flows south to north. (you may need that information in trivia one day)

anyhow, i hope one and all enjoy a great day. i did.

;-)