A day in paradise: Sunny skies at Ag Museum

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

“Do the horses love us?” my daughter, Ellie, asked as we entered the Florida Agricultural Museum on Saturday. At 4 years old, everyone and everything is her friend.

With my wife out of town for the day, I was brave and took Ellie and her two brothers to the fourth-annual Hot Foods ’n’ Spicy Blues Festival at the museum, 7900 N. Old Kings Road. We experienced the thrills and chills of the Banana Derby, in which monkeys raced around a small track on the backs of rescued dogs.

We also ate hot dogs, which are strictly forbidden when Mom is home. So, all in all, it was a memorable day.

But nothing topped the horses for Ellie. She wasn’t dissuaded by the sign posted in front of one of the horses with the words “I BITE!” written over a gruesome drawing of a hand missing an index finger. (She can’t read.) She knelt there and made little piles of hay for the horses to eat.

I waited for her to say something cute and endearing about the animals again so I could share them with Mom, but I had to settle for things that Mom wouldn’t find amusing, including, “They poop on the ground really slowly,” and, “Horses have butts.”

On the way out of the museum, I bumped into Beach 92.7 General Manager David Ayres, whose radio station helped make the event happen and is a great promoter of events in our community. If it weren’t for the festival, I would still be in the group of people whom he often chastises on “Free For All Friday” for never having visited this attraction at the northern end of Flagler County.

Thanks, David. And thanks to Andy Johnson and all the others who make the Ag Museum a great place to take the family on a sunny, beautiful day in paradise. Visit myagmuseum.com.