another yamboree has come and gone

Marjorie says:
The Yam fest, as ever, was a whirlwind three days of non-stop visiting. It's a great time to go home because relatives from all sides of my family are out and about...we don't have to arrange visits - we just run into each other. It's multi-generational - my mom randomly met her first cousins (a couple I met for the first time) and I randomly met mine (all of whom my folks know!). I'm not sure what outsiders make of the Yamboree. I always think of it as full of activity - too much to do in a long weekend and each year I tend to focus on one or two events more than others. At one point I was taking a break with my folks on a picnic table at the fairgrounds, in the part that has the arts and crafts booths. There was a couple with their baby sharing the table and they asked us if the fairgrounds and the carnival on the square was "all there was." They're from a neighboring, much larger town and had finally decided to check out the Yamboree, which they had always heard so much about. I think all three of us were a little stumped at first, because it seems like a big weekend...well, yes, I guess for folks who come from other areas those two places are mainly "all there is." But for the town, and all the little hamlets and villages around Gilmer, it's a weekend full of meeting and greeting, dancing and eating, livestock showing and competing, parading and carnival riding. And for me and others who make a point of going home at that time of year its an opportunity to reconnect with our families and history in a major way.

We live in a rapidly changing world, and things in Gilmer are changing too. There is a demographic shift happening there, and lots of young people are leaving the town for larger cities. But I hope the Yamboree, which is one of the oldest festivals in Texas, keeps on happening for the folks there, and for those of us who left long ago as well.