But there is a not so bright side. When the festival comes along, it's as if the social advancements of the last 150 years didn't happen. There is an atmosphere that I don't like about it. If you wear Union blue you're a Yankee, and you're the enemy. Even in the little brochure our local paper came out with, the Union forces are referred to as the enemy. It makes me a little sad, and I don't completely understand this mentality. But enough of that. Let's get to the better parts.
Sadly, Caroline couldn't get time off from work to come to Lake City, but I decided to dress up anyways. This is actually a big deal, because I've never been a Lolita by myself, and certainly not in Lake City. I went with my mom in the afternoon because it was the warmest part of the day, but we still froze out butts off.
In my Sassy Civil War Heroines post I talked about my top picks for my outfit inspiration. In the end I chose Sarah Emma Edmonds. Here's a tidbit about her from that post:
She was originally from Canada, but she ran away from home to get out of an arranged marriage her abusive father was forcing her into. She came to the United States and settled in Michigan, but when the Civil War broke out she disguised herself as a man, called herself Franklin Flint Thompson, and enlisted in the Union army. While in the military Sarah first served as a male field nurse, then later became a spy. She was a master of disguise, able to become any character she wanted, black or white, male or female. Her career came to an end when she contracted Malaria. She didn't want to be discovered as a woman so she left the military and went to a private hospital. She planned on returning but her alter ego was seen as a deserter, so she remained Sarah and became a female nurse. She later wrote about her exploits in her book Nurse and Spy in the Union Army, and her story has been retold in several works of fiction, such as Ann Rinaldi's Girl in Blue.
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| Sarah Emma Edmonds as Franklin Thompson |
Here's my outfit:
The shirt and vest are thrifted and the skirt and belt are items I've had for a while. The socks are from Wet Seal and the boots are from Sears. My cheap Union hat came from ebay. I'm also wearing my new petticoat that my mom sewed for me. The vest originally had clear buttons but I sewed on some more theme appropriate ones that my mom happened to have in her collection.
The festival is downtown, where Caroline and I had our last meet-up. There's a lake and lots of ducks. They all thought I had bread, so I took pictures of their disappointed faces, and backsides.
There were a lot of people and a lot of vendors. I didn't really want to take pictures of everybody's stuff so I took some wide shots instead.
I got another picture of the dress at Rowand's because the light was a little better today. One of the ladies who works there told us that it's less than $200, which is far less than I thought it would be, especially with all that lace!
One of the Civil War memorials.
There's always a stage for some local entertainment, including local school choirs and bands. When I took this picture a girl was singing a Taylor Swift song and I wanted to shoot myself. Later on we could hear someone singing a Frozen song. I'll say no more.
This memorial was for the Apalachee Trail.
There are very few trees left in the downtown park. They cut a lot of them down a few years ago for no reason at all. Thankfully this beautiful Magnolia is still standing.
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