2015 Homosassa Arts, Crafts, and Seafood Festival

November 17, 2015 by KTgreen

It was a lot of work but so much fun! Here’s just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took this weekend.

“Shades of Gray” was the first entertainment.

Followed by Cat Valentine

People of all sizes love live music!

Some of the worker bees from OHHC.

This little kitty snuck up on us in the dining room.

I heard “I’m a Kitty!”

And I turned around and said “NO PETS ALLOWED!”

And then I stumbled on more kittens.

And some patriotic boys.

“I’m Batman!”

The Learning Center was giving out ducks! “Surprise Mom and Dad, got me a duck!”

Three of our volunteers taking a well deserved break.

Artwork from one of my favorite little girls at the Learning Center.

The weekend closed with “Under the Willow”, a bluegrass band from Chicago that winters in Homosassa.

After all the months of planning and all the work of actually putting it together, this was definitely the best festival EVER!

Blues ‘n Bar-B-Que

November 12, 2015 by KTgreen

“Lets Get Bluesified”

Oh yeah, I was all covered with the Blues last Saturday. Three different bands. All great.

It was the 20th Annual Blues ‘n Bar-B-Que. Always held on the first Saturday in November. Mark your calendar. This is such a GREAT EVENT! Hear really great live music under beautiful live oaks. Eat Cuban food or BBQ. Have some beer. What’s better than that.

We’ve been attending for the last three years. For some reason, every year before we had a scheduling conflict. Now we don’t have a conflict because the Blues ‘n Bar-B-Que is scheduled FIRST on our calendar. No Conflicts!

This was our first year for warm weather. Year one there was rain. Last year there was cold. Seriously cold. I took a quilt, mittens and a hat. This year we had wonderful 80 degree weather. Wow!

We got there in time to hear all three bands.

Beautiful Bobby Blackmon opened the day.

Beautiful Bobby played covers of a lot of really great Blues. He was very entertaining.

Jim Davis did the emceeing duties. Jim writes the music column for the Citrus Chronicle and reports on the local music scene. (Just in case you didn’t already know that!)

He introduced “Cool Corporate Cats”. Obviously, this was why everyone was here. To hear our own local guy, Jim “Boe” Anderson and his band.

Usually “Cool Corporate Cats” has three members. This time they expanded to seven. WOW!

Like I said, WOW! Cool Corporate Cats play their own original music. No covers. WOW!

Next up was the Albert Castiglia Band. Unfortunately A lot of the audience left. They were there for Boe and his group. Those that headed out really missed the highlight of the day. I thought Cool Corporate Cats was great but the Albert Castiglia Band was amazing. A whole different style of blues music. Hard rock working the blues. And Albert Casatiglia was funny and engaged the audience.

It was a great day. As I was sitting there soaking up all this great music, all I could think was “I live 5 minutes away. This is in my backyard. How lucky am I?”

I feel bad for all those that left before the Albert Castiglia Band took the stage. They were GREAT!

Looking forward to the event next year! Like I already said, put it on your calendar. First Saturday of November. Right here in little Old Homosassa.

Friday Meanderings

November 9, 2015November 6, 2015 by KTgreen

There is a direct correlation between how active I’m in the community and the quantity and quality of my blog posts. Seems every day there’s a meeting, a volunteer session, or I need to update one of the community websites. So I apologize for the lack of posts. I’m still here, just out and about.

Terry is even more involved than me. I’m not up for physical labor–he’s out there moving concrete patio tables and marking lines on the road. Me, I’ll stick with my computer work!

So what exactly is going on this month???

Black Diamond is having an Invitational Car Show tomorrow. We’ll be there in the AM.

In the PM we’ll be at the Blues & BBQ in Old Homosassa. The last two years have been cold or rainy at this outdoor event. This year we are having unseasonably warm weather. I’ll go for shorts and tanks over sweat pants and gloves anyday!

The Stone Crab Jam is in Crystal River Saturday evening. We hear that this is the best festival of the year in Crystal River.

Next weekend is the Homosassa Arts, Crafts, and Seafood Festival. At the Festival we have “Shades of Gray” entertaining us from 11:30 to 1:30 then Cat Valentine from 2:00 to 5:00 on Saturday. On Sunday Rick Standard will perform from noon until 2 and then “Under the Willow” takes over. All of our crafts and arts booths are FULL. We have mermaid t-shirts and posters for sale. And all that yummy food. Don’t even think about going anywhere else! Unless, of course, it’s over to the Shed where my favorite band “Sarasota Slim” is performing both days.

When you come to the Festival stop by the Old Homosassa Heritage Council booth and get a t-shirt and a raffle ticket. Money goes to restore the water tower.

Also, the Learning Center is having a raffle for the original art work by Gil Watson for the t-shirts and posters. $5.00! I’m volunteering at the Learning Center now. So this one is personal to me, also. Hmmmm, now I’m thinking I should be suggesting that you NOT get those raffle tickets. Cause I want to win that painting.

And one final note, the next crime watch meeting in Old Homosassa is November 23rd. Mark your calendar! This is a really informative meeting. If you live in Old Homosassa, you should be there!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy