Why I Blame Nordic Fest for My Chicken Obsession

I visited Nordic Fest in Decorah, IA last weekend, revisiting a place I have not visited for over 30 years a very long time.

A place that I have been able to trace my obsession with chickens all the way back to.

I have only 2 memories of the Nordic Fest - one, that it was always bloody hot, which meant that me and my sister, with our North Shore of Lake Superior cool climate bodies (read: a hot summer day would be, oh, 75 degrees) wanted nothing to do with the outside events, opting instead to meander from store to store in seek of A/C; and two - one of the stores that had A/C and also had baby chickens was the Decorah Hatchery.

Therefore, most of my Nordic Fest memories revolve around spending hours in the hatchery ogling the racks and racks of baby birds and eventually winning the trust of the shop keepers enough to be allowed to take them out and handle play with them.

Which of course led the way to my current collection obsession.

Naturally.

Cheers -