Beautiful day. Country drive. Battle Creek. Free food. Mark Schauer. I am so there. Can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning in June.
This was the first time I had attended the Battle Creek Cereal Festival. Had heard it was fun - it is. Michigan Ave. is closed to set up "The World's Longest Breakfast Table", and volunteers serve up cereal from Kellogg's, Post and Ralston, along with juice and Pop Tarts. "Thousands" of people descend on the area to enjoy free breakfast and entertainment. The theme this year was "Promoting a Healthy Community"; Minority Health Partnership set up free health screenings, had activities for kids and people were able to register for MI Child and the Calhoun Health Plan. Live music and other entertainment, various vendors and causes and local teams - the Battle Creek Blaze football team was there, as well as the Michigan (Un)Fair Tax people - and everything in-between.
The street was packed. Mark Schauer was there to mingle with the crowd and eat some cereal. Yes, the Senator can eat and talk with folks at the same time - two bowls, as a matter of fact...
These are thumbnails - click on the picture to see a larger view, or, just jump to the Flickr set to see what I've got up there so far.
The star of the show - bowls were lined up at various stations; grab one, find the milk guy and go. People were wandering the crowd handing out Pop Tarts and Capri Sun juice pouches.
Crowd shot.
Breakfast is served.
Team Schauer out in force. Who started this sticker craze anyway? Might make for a good trivia question one of these days.
This is Kate Segal. She is running for House - 62nd District. She had stickers, too. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure you can't run for office in Michigan unless you have stickers to slap on people.
Good picture of Mark.
Empty Bowl Sale. Kids and local celebs make bowls, and they sell them off and donate the proceeds to the Food Bank of South Central Michigan.
Not sure if this is a warehouse or what - but the side of the building has old Kellogg ads. It's on Michigan Ave.
Schauer and the obligatory baby. He put a sticker on the baby carrier... of course.
Fun morning. If you ever get to chance to go to the Cereal Festival... make sure you do!