Like most every Iowa town, Melbourne (town slogan, “Not down under, but right on top”), population 600 and some, has a summer town festival (I’d be wary of a town that doesn’t have such a celebration – something’s amiss with the folks in a town that can’t pull it off). This weekend is “Mousehole Days” in Melbourne. Sometimes it’s a stretch for each town to find something to make their own. Marshalltown has “OctemberFest,” State Center has “Rose Festival,” and Rhodes has, imaginatively enough, “Rhodes Days.”

Melbourne has a railroad underpass that is called a Mousehole, thus “Mousehole Days.”

Isn’t it a beauty? Some of the activities include the Husband/Wife Yelling contest (as in calling for dinner), car show, greased pig contest, and so on.

It was a rainy morning for the first market (at least in Grinnell – we got a whomping 1/10 of an inch at the farm). So we had a bunch of bouquets left over and offered the mousehole committee to sell them and keep half the proceeds. They sold out in a blink of an eye. (Note to self: find out about setting up a flower stand next year for Mousehole Days).