May 1, 2012 This was my first time visiting the ostrich festival, I have to
admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect, can’t say I really understood the
fascination with the bird, and yet, I was eager to attend, and the questions
flooded my brain…. Does one eat an ostrich? Do they really race? Is everything
they sell shaped like a feather or an ostrich an egg Inquiring minds!!
When we arrived, we found the ticket line to be well marked and off to the left,
the entrance was to the right and easily accessible. This matters a lot to me,
first because I brought my 92 year old Grandma with me, and second I didn’t have
to get stepped on trying to enter the gates. I am not fond of being a doormat.
This was not the case at all, it was easy to enter and easy to navigate.
I walked around and I have to tell you I was so pleasantly surprised!! Even though
I have no children of my own, I saw tons of games and rides for the kiddos, this
makes me very happy as I have a lot of friends with kiddos and I like to bring
to their attention things that they can do with them around the valley. They
looked like so much fun!
The restrooms were plentiful and they had a washing hands station right outside of the facilities, and that matters a lot to me (things we don’t talk about but need and want daily).
Oh and you can apparently eat ostrich I did not know this. In fact a second thing I didn’t know was it is a red meat! I sincerely thought all fowl was a white meat. I didn’t try it to be honest with you, so I don’t know if it tastes like chicken or not, in fact I heard it tastes like beef. But I cannot attest to this firsthand.
They did have the best races I have ever watched, it was so funny, some had chariots, some were riding on the backs of the ostriches, and all of them went crazy running to and fro. Very funny! I rooted for the blue team, red won. No that won’t spoil next year for you =)
There were a lot of grassy areas, but eating areas not so much, let me clarify, we brought my 92 year old Grandma, eating on the ground was not a problem for me or my hubby, but she can’t get up and down like that anymore, now if she was in a wheelchair, there were a great many sidewalks and accessibility for handicappable people, but she is stubborn and loves to walk =) and for her, there were no places to eat. Yes there were a few tables, but nothing to handle the crowd… not really.
We did enjoy the reptile show, and the monkey show, and the dock dogs. Have you ever seen that? Dock dogs? These folks bring their dogs for competition, they stand on a stage/dock, and at the end there is a HUGE pool of water (this is especially important if it is hot and you want to cool down) stand at the end of the pool. The person throws the toy into the water and has their awesome doggy run and jump into the pool creating a splash that will soak you if the dog is big enough, and they measure the length of the jump for a ribbon. I had never seen this in a competition before, only at a lake for fun.
I’m going to tell you right now, that some dogs can fly!!
I thought that the ostrich festival was a wonderful success. While I didn’t see any strolling performers (my favorite part of fairs and festivals), I did see a lot of shows on different stages and it was very easy to navigate for my grandma, I really love it when she walks away and still talks about what she’s seen.
I’ll be back next year for their 25th Anniversary
Ostrich Festival Chandler, AZ
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