Community Events

Despite steady rain, Family Fun Day shines on

Published

4 years ago

May 8, 2022

At least it wasn’t a steady, HARD rain on the Family Fun Day Parade, as well as booths, rides, arts, and business displays officially opened at 10 a.m. with a scheduled closing time of 6 p.m. Saturday, May 7th. If not packed the entire day, there appeared to be a steady stream – oops, is that a poor choice of words in this rainy day report context? – of hearty attendees, young and old alike, through the Historic Downtown Front Royal Gazebo-and-Pavilion anchored Village Commons area.

Royal Examiner checked with Family Fun Day organizer, and C&C Frozen Treats proprietor William Huck on a dryer, if mostly cloudy following Sunday afternoon, on the impact of the uncooperative, if not extremely so, weather the previous day. The response was characterized by his familiar enthusiasm for what downtown Front Royal has to offer and the community that downtown serves.

“This community is the most amazing community – people came out in droves,” Huck began, noting that 555 pounds of crawfish purchased for sale for an event anticipated to be held under sunnier spring skies sold out regardless of the weather. And if there was a steady, if fortunately generally light, rain throughout the day, Huck noted that there was also “a steady flow of people to the end,” which came slightly earlier than the planned 6 p.m. close, between 4:30 and 5 p.m., he observed.

Let’s open this thing up with some candy tossing as a colorfully clad host tries to avoid puddle landings of the goodies thrown the crowd’s way. Below, candy, candy everywhere. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

“Even through the weather there was sunshine and happiness across the board,” Huck said of the smiles on faces of those braving those threatening skies from shortly before the 10 a.m. parade launch for a good six to seven hours.

See Royal Examiner’s photographic record of that mixture of rain, sunny faces, and attractions below:

They must have been out in the rain before – this dance troupe did a well-coordinated umbrella routine. Below, even ghoulish participants didn’t interfere with a little help on the parade candy distribution front.

Let’s see what’s going on in here – do you think the Scouts have a k-9 troop, this dog may be asking mom.

More smiling faces arrive, and they haven’t even gotten to the food stands yet.

And what do we have set up down near the FR Train Co. caboose? Uh oh, a spinning animal ride – and they have pouches you can get out of the rain in.

Wait, are we welcome or not, this family may be wondering as they peruse the ‘Mason Dixon Boys Chainsaw Carvers’ display. That eagle might be a good lookout in the garden. There was even some on-site carving going on.