A few weeks ago, as the earthy fall colors earthily spilled upon the colorful autumn landscape of earthiness, I found myself driving the whole dang family to Durand for something called “Twig Fest.”

    This was on purpose.

    Now, I like twigs as much as the next guy, but a whole fest of ’em? I had my doubts. My wife Shannon had read about the woody event and thought it might be cool. At any rate, she said it’d be a nice drive, what with all the colorful leaves and all. I agreed. And thus, it was on.

    We got up on Saturday, hit the farmers market, and round about noonish, hit Highway 37 for our wonderful autumn drive towards Durand. Now, when I mentioned the bursting fall colors, I meant they were a-burstin’ everywhere but the stretch of road between Eau Claire and Durand. It was mostly green with patches of hazy yellow. Not so scenic.

    But we had fun ogling the handful of little five-building, one-bar villages along the way. We also had large cups of coffee on board, and that’s always awesome. By the time we were passing Durand’s Panther Drive-In (right across the street from a Dairy Queen), I was wired, jittery, and friggin’ pumped for some white hot twiggin’ action.

    So. Twig Fest. There’s a craft and home décor shop between Durand and Eau Galle (Oh! Golly!) called “Twigs-n-More.” It’s situated on a lumber yard, where most of the fest took place. The owners of the store (and lumber yard) had pulled together local business to sell stuff and raise some money for some local organizations.

    It was basically a mini festival with different craft/antique/Pampered Chef vendors, food, beer, music, hayrides, and – oh dear lord yes – bingo. On a kitsch scale of “not so kitschy” to “all up in your face kitschy,” I’d give it a rating of “big ribbon-wrapped barrel of kitsch with the word ‘cherish’ hand-painted on the side.”

    Before we left, I had asked Shannon if, even if none of the stuff at the festival was all that cool, we can at least make fun of it, right? She said no.