Frontier Days Provides Local Flavor by Morgan Mandel

A bunch of our blogger members will participate at Frontier Days Marketplace in Arlington Heights this Saturday and Sunday in Booth #124, called Area Authors, at Recreation Park near Douglas and Miner Streets. You can find me, Morgan Mandel, as well as June Sproat, Margot Justes and Debra St. John there if you're planning on attending Marketplace. Many of the other booths available will provide arts and crafts and other items to tempt buyers.

Frontier Days, which runs for 5 days always around the 4th of July Holiday, started out small, as do many festivals, but has blossomed into a huge attraction for the community. This year it's from July 1st through the 5th. It's run by the Festival Committee and is self-supporting, meaning it doesn't rely on Village money to keep afloat. I've been a member of the committee for several years and look forward to helping with putting the festival on. My part is small compared to what some of the members give, but I do what I can. This year I'll be wrapping hot dogs for Disability Day, plus marshaling the parade, which means keeping children from darting in front of vehicles as they rush to grab candy.

The Festival is one reason I enjoy being in my community.

Think about this when you're writing a manuscript. To enrich your setting, it doesn't hurt to add some kind of area events or something unique about the location which ties a character to his or her home and makes it all the more precious to remain there despite whatever obstacles may present themselves. In my case it's rising taxes, but I'm sure you can think of all kinds of ways your character's life in a community can be threatened.

Anywhere, today I'm offering a few pics from past Frontier Days. I hope to see some of you over at the Festival.

In the comment section, you're welcome to offer info on any of your area events which you particularly enjoy. Or maybe you'd like to illustrate how you've tied in local flavor in one of your books.

Morgan mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel