Sunday, August 29, 1999
Animal tricks, firetrucks are festival favorites
BY JENNY CALLISON
Enquirer contributor
MASON — From the firetrucks on the north end to the kids' stage on the south, Mason packed a lot of community into its annual Heritage Festival on Saturday.
Kameron Garwood, 4, of Loveland beckoned firefighter Jason Beckett into the firetruck to explain how the air tanks and gauges work. Mr. Beckett assured Kameron that the gauges would help emergency crews avoid running out of air.
“Kids love firetrucks,” Mr. Beckett said, adding that the firefighters don't worry about letting children explore inside: “If we can't break it, they can't break it.”
At the animal arena, Okatee the albino corn snake and Sunny the sheltie demonstrated the showmanship that won them top honors in the pet tricks contest. On command from owner Maria Dawes of Mason, the dog raised his head and balanced a wiggling Okatee from his nose.
Although they live in the same family, Okatee and Sunny don't normally hang out together.
“This is a highly supervised trick,” said Ms. Dawes. Her daughter Stephanie, 10, kept Sunny in tow while son Brad, 8, captured the winning trick on videotape.
Festival-goers strolled Main Street, browsing booths along the way. The Procter & Gamble Big Band drew a crowd at the main stage, while a magician entertained families at the kids' stage. Children crawled all over two Ohio Army National Guard Humvees, while across the street Girl Scouts helped other children make paper flowers.
“The festival gets a little bigger every year,” said Darcy Easter, who helped staff the Mason-Deerfield Township Fire Company Auxiliary food booth. “When I was little, the parade would last about half an hour. Today's parade was an hour and a half.”
Chairwoman Vickie Larcomb took a mid-afternoon breather to assess the event, the 34th annual Heritage Festival in this rapidly growing city.
“Our crowds were over whelming this morning for the parade,” she said. “We had great support from the community. The floats were professional-looking.”
She looked around at the flow of festival visitors. “It's still hometown,” said Ms. Larcomb, “but there's a lot of variety.”
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