Emmerson competes tomorrow but today we got to play at the festival. I loved the giant Mayfield cow! 
South Pittsburg is a small town with all the flare you would expect. The local theater changed their marque to support the festival. All the high schoolers volunteer at the festival. It was quite amazing and well orchestrated. 
We stopped at the photo booth for some silly photos! 
We waited in line at Cornbread Alley. For $5 you get a lot of samples of cornbread. Then you vote for your favorite with money. Each participant is a charity and they keep all the money from votes for them! 
We didn’t really enjoy many of the cornbreads from the alley but some were yummy. 
We won little prizes at the Lodge Cast Iron booth and the Cracker Barrel booth. We got “Dieters skillets” they are super small for people on a diet! haha
There was a kids corner with lots of arts and crafts and other entertainment. 
We took silly photos and made fun crafts. 
We were able to take the tour at the Lodge Cast Iron Foundry. It was amazing! The building was HUGE. We followed the assembly line through all the steps in making the cast iron items. We walked through a few times to get the full experience. 
They recycle all the scraps! 
Some of the products that they are making this year. 
It was really spectacular to see the skillets on the line. The line was shut down for the weekend so the tours can come through. This is the only time they do tours! 
After our tour we decided to head to Russel Cave NHS to explore the National Park Services site. We learned about ancient hunting using an atlatl. 
We worked on our junior ranger books and explored the cave. 
The ranger made us do silly dances to earn our badges! We had to balance on one foot, flap like a bird and then hop around. We all had a blast! 