Boys devour apple pies topped with whipped cream at the Kuttawa Harvest Festival in western Kentucky.
Harvest is a cause for celebration in Kuttawa, a town hugging Lake Barkley, one of the TVA manmade lakes isolating Land Between the Lakes in western Kentucky. From horseshoe pitching and kayak racing to an apple pie baking contest, sack races and a catfish fry, wholesome fun keeps every age wrapped up in activities.
I laughed with sheer joy and amazement watching the apple pie eating contests and sack races. Kids got a dollar coin just for bellying up to the picnic table. Each was given a hefty piece of apple pie towering with whipped cream to devour in a minute! The kids who won (usually skinny ones) inhaled the pies. Those who actually chewed each gulp lagged way behind. The prize? Five dollars!
The sack races were also hysterical to watch. Only one girl competed in the teenaged group. While the boys stumbled, knocked into each other and piled into a jumbled mess, she sprang down the slope with focused, steady hops – and won by a long shot.
My favorite, though, was the race by three young 20-something women. Glee brightened the winner’s face as she sprang to the finish. “I’m so proud!” she exclaimed about winning a contest for the first time in her life.
If we had stayed, we could have watched the golf cart parade and the Red Hat Society Cake Walk, played bingo, dined on catfish, danced to some great live music, and oohed and aahed at fireworks. But the desire to taste local wines lured us to a wine festival a few miles down the road.
