Renton River Days

Happy August! I can't believe we are already this far into summer! It seems like just yesterday we had our first few sun breaks right after the 4th of July...

Saturday we stopped by Renton River Days, which is basically Renton's annual fair without the rides. And it's just down the street from us in downtown Renton! I had heard about the event before, but found out about it this year while on my way home last week - I saw a mini circus set up outside at the Renton Community Center. Turns out it was the Wenatchee Youth Circus performing all weekend!

Zach and I love being tourists in our own city (Exhibit A) so we made our way downtown to take it all in. On the walk to Liberty Park, we were surprised by how peaceful and calm it was to walk along the Cedar River. So pretty!

There were tons of booths with local vendors. My favorite was the booth with the real life angry birds game (although I can't remember who was actually running this booth - a bank maybe?).

I loved these wooden salt + pepper shakers.

I liked the maps in the background of these paintings of local landmarks.

These lanterns would be fun for the backyard.

This structure was made out of a ton of pots and pans and metal. They had drum sticks for the kids to pound away and make some sweet music (you can see the little girl taking some in the bottom left of the picture). 

Of course, we had to stop by and grab some grub. We figured we'd be safe by picking the longest line, so we stuck it out for the gyros (Does anyone else have trouble pronouncing that word? Just me?). They weren't bad, but I've had better. In true fair fashion, we ended the day with an elephant ear. It was that or the deep fried Twinkies, but Zach had to go with the old standby.

We had a great time, but I would say the River Days are definitely geared more towards kids. While they didn't have any rides, they had a ton of kid stuff - rock climbing wall, bouncy house, and fire trucks galore. They even had the fire hose going for the kids to run through. So if you have kids, Renton River Days is perfect!

What fun summer events does you have in your hometown?

Also - can we just talk about the time delay for the Olympics? I am trying to stay off facebook (and other social media) to avoid hearing results, but forgot last night and found out the women's gymnastics results before I watched. Booo! I know it's tough with the live versions happening 9 hours ahead, but I still want there to be some suspense! U-S-A! U-S-A!