Tag Archives: Spokane Interstate Fair

Uglies Thursday Rundown

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Hello, it’s me again! Honestly, why do you keep coming back here? On second thought, don’t answer that—I am just thrilled someone wants to read my scribble. Okay, let’s go with tonight’s five topics.

Passport PSA – This is a public service announcement brought to you by your favorite blogger…you can now renew your passport online! For those readers who like to travel internationally, we all know there is no bigger nag than making arrangements to extend your passport. Thankfully, a pilot program has now been introduced to the general population. Tap here for details.

Rejoice! You can now renew passports online.

Uglies – This week I watched the #2 Netflix movie in America. “Uglies” is a movie about a dystopian society where the largest segment undergoes cosmetic surgery at 16 years old to reflect the idealized physical version of themselves. However, there is a dissenting and outcast population, the Uglies, who don’t. The first half of the film was really captivating and the soundtrack is on point. Not to mention one of my favorite actresses, Joey King, stars in the lead role. But the second half of the movie isn’t as interesting and some parts are tacky. When I finished watching “Uglies,” I couldn’t help but think it was just a poor man’s “Hunger Games.”

“Uglies” started promising and then fizzled.

Nazareth Guild – I feel that sometimes people think, “A Catholic education is way too expensive for my family.” Well, first thing I would say is that tuition might not be as cost-prohibitive as you think. It would be worth your time to check rates at your local Catholic school. Second, financial assistance does exist for those serious about a Catholic education. Here in eastern Washington, a non-profit organization called the Nazareth Guild provides financial aid to families who want to enroll at a school in the Spokane Diocese but might lack the funds to do so. On Saturday night, we joined the principal of St. Mary Catholic School along with some of our other friends for the Nazareth Guild’s Celebration of Light fundraising dinner. What an inspiring and lucrative evening…$425,000 was raised!

Some quick photos including a selfie of Sid and me, Bishop Daly at the podium, and a group photo with some of the people we attended the event with.

Pirate Day – Whenever people talk about niche national days, the example of “National Talk Like A Pirate Day” is always used to describe the absurdity of this recent phenomenon. So, to those who genuinely do talk like a pirate, let me legitimize your hobby because today is your special day 😂. Although I don’t ever talk like a pirate, I have been known to dress like one. While I am at it, let me send my regards to all those celebrating National Butterscotch Pudding Day. Count me among your legions—I love butterscotch…especially in milkshake form.

Sidney and I dressed as pirates in 2015.

Ice Cream Fake Out – I took a photo of this random ice cream sign at the fair because it didn’t look right to me. As I waited for Sloan to finish a ride, I scanned through the text and noticed the statistic that said 4.90% of Americans store ice cream in their freezer. I thought there is no way less than 5% of people in this country have ice cream at home. Well, when I pulled up this photo yesterday, I couldn’t help but laugh. It turns out 90% of Americans store ice cream in their freezer. This tidbit was the fourth item on the list and thus designated with the numeral 4 and a period (.) to convey it. My brain had mushed the “4.” and “90” together to form 4.90%.

I didn’t read this ice cream sign correctly on Friday night.

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And with that, another Thursday Rundown is in the books. All our September weekends have been packed thus far and the trend will hold true for this upcoming one as well. Thanks again for reading! Don’t Blink.

The Great Pumpkin Seed

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Last Friday evening, my family honored a four-year tradition and visited the Spokane Interstate Fair. Although there were many highlights (perhaps I will share some of those anecdotes in this upcoming week’s Thursday Rundown), there was something I learned that really stood out.

At one point during the night, we entered the agricultural pavilion. After looking at the award winning vegetables, fruits, and pies we ventured over to the corner of the building that showcased the giant pumpkins that farmers proudly grew.

Beat takes a long look at the giant pumpkins at the Spokane Interstate Fair.

Many of the pumpkins tipped the scale at over 900 pounds. However, the blue ribbon pumpkin did not have a weight assigned to it. Why? Because that was for fair-goers like us to determine. Yep, there was a contest to guess how much the “best in show” pumpkin weighed.

The four of us all submitted our guesses on pieces of white paper, folded them up, and placed them in a box. The box was situated on a long rectangle table with a man sitting at one end. This gentleman was overseeing the pumpkins and the contest. As someone who doesn’t mind talking to strangers, especially at community events, I approached him with a question.

Now, before I reveal the question, just a little bit of background: My inquiry was asked in the same vein that caused me to once wonder aloud what happens to horses and other large, non-butchered livestock when they die? How do people manage such a large mass when it is no longer alive or needed? Do you see where I am going with this?…

“What will happen to these pumpkins after the fair?” I asked the man.

Beau thinking about how many pounds he was going to guess for the weight of the pumpkin.

I mean, a 1,000 pound pumpkin takes up a lot of space and is extremely heavy. If I was the owner of these large pumpkins and I didn’t plan to make a lot of pumpkin pie, I think I would ask the fair if they could find some way to dispose of them.

Oh Brent, how naïve you are.

The man at the table told me the truth: the owners make money off them!

Once the fair is over, the owners come back and retrieve their gourds. They then cut them up and sell the seeds. But they aren’t putting a handful in a pack and selling them for a couple dollars like what you find at any gardening store. These people are selling them PER seed. And let me tell you, the going rate is not $2 per seed.

They are selling them for $50 EACH.

Of course the numbers started to swirl in my head. When we carve regular-sized pumpkins at Halloween, there are seemingly hundreds of seeds inside. How many seeds must be inside a pumpkin that is 300X bigger than the ones we buy at Safeway. Now take that large amount of seeds and multiply it by 50. Is anyone else seeing dollar signs?

If only all those seeds my dad removed from that pumpkin were worth $50 each!

I am always on the lookout for a revenue-generating side hustle and giant pumpkin seed harvesting sounds extremely lucrative. In fact, the ROI seems incredible considering it only takes one seed to plant a mammoth pumpkin that would produce hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of new seeds. Sounds like I could turn $50 into $50,000 over the course of a summer. But alas, I don’t really have the space in my neighborhood to grow a pumpkin that would likely nudge into my neighbor’s yard.

Despite the disappointment that growing a giant pumpkin probably won’t work out for me, I am still glad I found out the very interesting story about what happens to overgrown gourds after the fair. Happy pumpkin spice season, everyone. Don’t Blink.