lake eden arts festival (LEAF)

This was a first for us -- we went camping at a music festival. Not only that, but we went camping in the snow at a music festival! How 'bout them flakes, huh?

We spent the weekend at the Lake Eden Arts Festival, LEAF for short, in the mountains near Asheville, NC. On Saturday, we ducked out of our tent, headed to the breakfast buffet at the mess hall and then walked on over to the big stage to hear Billy Jonas perform. He was on the schedule for at least three shows, but this early morning one was the "family show." Quite a fun crowd had gathered for the show; we were glad to have our chairs due to the mud (nothing like Austin, though). Billy put on a very fun show, playing lots of songs from the new(ish) Happy Accidents CD.

From there we headed to the Kids' Village. What a FUN place! The girls did the usual kid festival things -- balloon animals, face painting, dress-up, instrument petting zoo, etc. In addition, they browsed the kids' boutiques, staffed by kids selling their own creations. I think the most popular items were the marshmallow shooters.

We watched shows by both our neighbor Elise Witt and by Baron Von Rumblebuss and Redd Zeppelin.

Finally, we spotted the Lunch Money crew! It hadn't been too long since we had seen them last (two weeks and 1000 miles), but we were excited! And Lunch Money didn't disappoint. Everyone in the crowd loved the show...both those of us that have been to a dozen or more shows and those that were at their first Lunch Money concert. During the concert I noticed that Cactus and Saki (Secret Agent 23 Skidoo) were in the audience as well. Afterwards, I commented to Molly and Cactus that they should collaborate at some point and was thrilled to hear that something is in the works. Cactus even treated us to a sneak-peek! Cool.

The girls had so much fun at the concert, that we chose to head back to hear their second set, the next day. I asked how it felt to play a show after sleeping in a tent in the snow. Needless to say, but I'll say it just in case, they rocked. And we can't wait to see them again. I've asked Chloe to not blow the punchlines, but she loves that she's so well-acquainted with their spiels that I doubt she'll heed my request.