We Might Not Be Back: Celebrating Annie Oakley in Darke County

I wish I could find the KitchenAid rep I met at Costco and thank her for the amazing insider tip she gave me. She was the one who told me that there just happens to be a KitchenAid factory in Ohio, and that they have a sidewalk sale once a year. This bit of information led me to the Annie Oakley Days celebration in Greenville, Ohio. And this along with an amazing compilation CD of showtunes led to my daughters' obsession with Annie Oakley.

I started getting the girls pumped up for this day trip months in advance. We love musicals and by chance there were a couple songs from Annie Get Your Gun on a box set I purchased at Half Price Books. We started listening to them in the car and then we rented the movie Annie Get Your Gun from the library along with a stack of books about Annie Oakley. The girls were completely enthralled! They watched the movie daily for a good week. They were appalled when Annie let Frank win the contest to win him back. I was appalled by the portrayal of Native Americans. We had good discussions about both, so we'll just be grateful for the opportunity for dialogue and acknowledge the time in which the musical was written.

We decided to go to the sidewalk sale on the day of the parade. The parade happens in lovely downtown Greenville. I was delighted that it wasn't completely overrun with politicians. There were a lot of Shriners. I had no idea there were so many members with such a variety of little vehicles! We also got to see Miss Annie Oakley and some beautiful horses. We watched the parade from the sidewalk right in front of the KitchenAid Outlet, which was quite convenient. Just before the parade was over my mom and I took turns shopping, so the girls could be spared going in. I definitely recommend going in during the parade. After it ended people pile into the store. I got some amazing "free" gifts because I bought entirely too much stuff.

After the parade we headed north of town to the Annie Oakley Festival. The girls watched a blacksmith make a hook. We ate a bag of kettle corn roughly the size of Lottie. We took a free bus tour, which was interesting. The only problem with the tour was the sound system didn't work, so it was a little difficult to catch all the information. Part of the tour took us past the Garst Museum and a beautiful park located in Greenville. There were a lot of very nice looking vendors set up around the museum. If we went up again I'd definitely go to the museum and spend more time near the town. The festival was nice, but the girls were disappointed we didn't see any of the shooting. I had a hard time figuring out where it would've been happening. We watched some of the horse show and some of the whip cracking. I think they'd have maybe gotten more out of the museum exhibits, but the festival was free and the museum charges, so I still think we did ok. It was nice to explore a part of Ohio we'd have otherwise never happened upon.