Barbecue and Dragons…Oh, My!

With Gracey (our RV) parked for a few weeks and because it’s Spring Break where our granddaughters live, their Mom and Dad drove them over the mountains to Knoxville to visit BeBe and Big Daddy (you gotta love our grandparent names—we do). Helen, (adorable wife) known as BeBe to our granddaughters, was recovering from knee replacement and doing well, but needed a big hug from the girls to speed up the process. We were excited about seeing everyone.

Before their arrival, our son had heard about an event taking place that he thought the girls would enjoy and brought it to our attention.  The event, a Dragon Lights Festival, sounded like fun and agreed that this is one we should attend.  Helen felt like this would be a good opportunity to give the new knee a test because it would involve quite a bit of walking. I wasn’t so sure, the event covers a 17-acre fairground, but she is one tough girl.

Everyone arrived on Tuesday and settled in nicely.  Helen was so grateful to have someone besides me to talk to; I don’t think her feet ever hit the floor. She showed the girls her latest puzzle, and without any persuading, they finished it for her, minus one missing piece (Helen buys her puzzles from a thrift shop). 

Wednesday was the day we planned to attend the festival, so we learned a few things about what we would be seeing.  The enormous lanterns on display are the creations of about 40 Chinese artisans brought to this country to display their skills at several locations in the United States. The manager of the Knoxville Fairgrounds wanted to bring the lanterns to our city to host a family-friendly event and give our citizens an opportunity to view something unique and different. She succeeded.

An additional highlight of our evening of fun would be dinner at Sweet P’s Downtown Dive, a local eatery that specializes in barbecue. We hoped that by going early on a Wednesday, we would be able to find seats because Sweet P’s is a very popular restaurant and long waits are not uncommon. When we arrived, a line was forming, but it was short, and we found a large table perfect for the family.  Barbecue gets Big Daddy fired up big time!

I love Sweet P’s method of serving guests because everything is buffet style and the servers behind the food counter are friendly, fun, and fast. The food is served hot, and the portions are generous. My usual selection is barbecued meatloaf (exquisite), but it was not on the menu tonight, and I opted for a barbecue pork plate with “Greens and Things” instead. I topped off the pork with Sweet P’s tangy, thick sauce. The meal was heavenly.

My daughter-in-law ordered a meal of the barbecue ribs with the greens and the “Tomato and Blues” salad. The salad is grape tomatoes blended with a dressing that is heavy on blue cheese. I can only describe it by using the word divine. The girls helped her with the ribs and, as you can see in the picture, look great in anything they eat.

As we approached the fairgrounds, the lanterns loomed large over the road leading to the parking area. The girls stared at them in wide-eyed wonder and had to be held back while I purchased tickets. Helen made a wise decision to use two hiking poles to make walking easier on her knee and to steady herself if she got bumped by the crowd. The poles helped.

The Chinese artisans construct the lanterns by welding steel frames in the shape of different characters and covering them with silk in a variety of bright colors. The amazing part of the construction is that the silk is hand-painted by the artisans using an airbrush and the level of shading and striping on each character is truly a work of art. The lights inside the characters bring out the vivid colors.

According to an article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the Knoxville festival has 42 lantern displays and is the second largest lantern festival in the United States. Two of the displays feature custom-built Malayan tigers and gibbons lanterns and have not been part of any other festival. These two animals live in the Knoxville Zoo which is adjacent to the fairgrounds.

In addition to the lanterns, Chinese entertainers performed on a stage along the festival route.  We paused to watch a group of jugglers perform a routine of dancing and tumbling while keeping four dinner plates balanced on metal rods.  Throughout the performance, I didn’t see a single plate hit the stage floor. As the family watched the jugglers, the girls took the opportunity to ride a moving dragon.

 

The event accomplished its objective of providing good family fun and everyone in our party agreed that the festival was a hit. Helen did fine on her new knee, and I felt that this was a great way to walk off a big and delicious pork dinner.  Our oldest granddaughter left town with a set of pictures for “show and tell” at school the following week and hopefully will let her grandfather know how it went.

I’ll let readers decide if the pictures scattered through this post would make for an interesting topic. I thought the festival was great fun, a great activity for two retired grandparents, and a very relaxing and very entertaining way to continue the journey we call…Easin’ Along.