Lafayette Quaker Oatmeal Festival 2017

Happy 2017! Every January, Lafayette hosts the Quaker Oatmeal Festival. There’s a 5K race, an oatmeal breakfast with more than 125 toppings, and a health fair. The kids and I like to go, and my friend Karen Maye has joined us for three years running. (The festival is everything Dave dislikes: small-town events, oatmeal, and running. He sat happily at the coffee shop noodling on his computer.)

The race started at 9:30 a.m. outside the music building where Dave and I play in the concert band. We picked up our bib numbers right on time and then went to the port-a-potties and got ready to run. Phoebe decided to run this year, instead of riding her bike. She doesn’t have any running shoes she likes (don’t get me started on the expensive pair I bought her recently—she swore they felt comfortable in the store). So she ran in her winter boots. I pushed Benjamin in the Chariot. He really had it made—coat, gloves, sweatshirt, hat, boots and a warm blanket! We had a really good race, clocking in around 48 minutes. Not bad for a six-year-old! Then we went over to the breakfast, where they’d made some organizational changes that made it run SO much more smoothly than last year. And the oatmeal wasn’t even watery! The kids loaded up on candy toppings. I stuck to fruit and nuts (with a bit of candy on the side). They had Longmont Dairy milk and were recycling/composting 100% of the trash. Modern small town! We ran into a few friends from church, so that was fun. The health fair included enough freebies to make everyone happy.

What a great way to start the year! Outdoors in the winter enjoying some exercise followed by food and coffee.