This past weekend was the annual Long Island Fall Festival in Heckscher Park, located in Huntington, NY.  Situated on over 25 acres of land, this festival is the largest one of its kind in our locality, drawing tens of thousands of attendees from the Tri-State Area.  The festival featured many food vendors selling things that can only be described as "guilty pleasures."  Dieters would not have found much to their liking, but for those that allowed themselves a guilt-free day, this was the place to be.

This is the third time that I've attended the festival with my family, and it was truly a great day.  The weather was great, although it got a little chilly as the sun set.  There was so much to see and do, and the time just flew by.  As we strolled through the vendor-lined walkways, we took a look at what companies were represented.  The booth that really stood out was Verizon's, featuring their much ballyhooed FiOS Service.  This is a service that I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of, but unfortunately, they still have not reached my area, although they say that they should be here by year's end.  If so, it would make a great holiday gift to give to myself.

Many times, new technology comes with a lot of hyperbole, but not in this case.  The plasma screen with the FiOS technology was showing a football game between the Broncos and Chargers.  This TV was probably no wider than 36 inches, but you got the feeling of being on the sidelines because the picture was so crisp.  I'm ready to jump on board with the whole package when it comes to my town.  Anything that can give me great TV picture quality, networked DVR's for multi-room use and lighting quick Internet service is a must have.  The people manning the booth were very friendly and took my information down to alert me when this will be available in my area.

There was one other booth of note, and it kind of ties in to the Verizon booth, although in a very unusual, indirect way.  As we came to the end of the booths and neared the food and carnival area, we were met by a pirate that looked like he had just come off of a pirate ship.  His knowledge of pirates was impressive and his authenticity was truly astounding.  My son, who is a big fan of pirates, was allowed to hold a pirate's sword (with supervision of course).  The sword was extremely heavy and could have done a lot of damage if used in an actual battle.

The pirates were there because they were recently involved in a benefit to save a Long Island lighthouse.  For the most part, you would really think that pirates were in the midst, until my friendly pirate broke character to tell me about the MySpace.com site that his son set up for him.  I'm not quite an expert on pirates, but I'm pretty sure that while they were pillaging, they didn't take time to set up online profiles.  But I digress.

A few steps further and we would reach "Shangri La", also known as the food court.  Healthy eating is something that we should all aspire to doing, but not on festival day.  This day was about indulgence, and indulge we did.  Since we hadn't eaten lunch yet, we started off with actual food in the form of hot dogs and knishes.  Had the prices not resembled the inflated prices that you see at professional sporting events, it probably would have been more enjoyable, but it was a special day, so we just dealt with the high cost of family fun for this special occasion.

Once "lunch" was done, it was then time for some fun.  The first treat on the menu was a caramel apple.  All of the gooey caramel stuck to the paper at the bottom, but we made sure that it didn't go to waste.  This treat was enjoyable for the whole family, but our youngest member (just over a year old) was obsessed with the caramel, wiggling in our arms to get to this sinful delight.  Can you say sugar high?

The "healthiest" part of the day consisted of a pickle-on-a-stick (strange but tasty) and a hot pretzel, which was shared by all.  A stroll around the festival to burn off a little bit of the initial indulgence seemed like a good idea, until our effort was derailed by an ice cream vendor selling King Cones, a nostalgic treat for my wife and I, and a new discovery for my son.

Since my son doesn't like carnival rides, a good portion of the time was spent playing on the expansive playground inside of the park.  He and the little one slid down the slide together and both had smiles from ear to ear.  After the slide, it was off to the swings, where my son enjoyed his newfound ability to keep himself in motion and then helping to push his little sis on the baby swings. These are the moments that you just live in while you forget about the stress of everyday life. 

As the unexpected evening chill came upon us, we knew that it was almost time to call it a day, once the promise that we made to our son was fulfilled about going into the bouncy house, where an unexpected surprise awaited me.  For the second time in three years, I bumped into an old college friend that I lost touch with.  It's hard to believe how the years have passed, as I realized that we hadn't seen each other in over 15 years.  Where does the time go?

We had a nice exchange, talked about some old times, and went on our way.  Just as we were about to head out to the car, I realized that we had one more very important stop to make.  Caught up in the busy day, we nearly forgot to indulge in the staple food of any good festival - FUNNEL CAKES!  Talk about saving the best for last. 

If you've never had a Funnel Cake, you are missing out on one of life's great pleasures.  Oddly enough, my son tried it and didn't like it.  Can this really be our boy?  If the festival had a paternity test booth, I think that we would have had the boy checked to make sure that he belonged to us.  What's not to like about fried dough covered in powdered sugar, especially for a kid with a sweet tooth?  He got to play one last time on the playground as the rest of the family savored this delicious treat. 

It's a good thing that this was our last stop before heading home, as we all ended up covered in white powder on our dark clothing.  That's what happens when you allow a 1-year old to play with the leftover powdered sugar.  What she didn't eat, she wore, or enjoyed making handprints on us.  The look on her powder-covered face was priceless.  She'll probably never remember being at the festival, but it's something that the rest of us won't soon forget. 

Wherever you live, there will probably be some sort of festival at some point.  I highly recommend turning it into a family outing.  It's a place memories are made.  Oh, and whatever you do, make sure that you don't forget the Funnel Cakes!