While I was at the Fiesta Latina Saturday night, I tried a night view of the bridge over the Willamette River. I think it came out better than I expected. Needless to say, taking this kind of a picture with flash doesn't work. So, what do you think, is the picture worth the space?

Our rivers are beautiful, day or night. Come for a visit! I got an extra bedroom. :-D Carolyn, this eye candy is for you!

Viva La Fiesta!A celebration of Latin music, food, art and dance at Springfield's Island Park Friday and Saturday. Bienvenidos!

Bands played, dancers danced, food vendors fed patrons, car nuts saw the inside of low riders and found out how the heck they could jump up and down.

Take a look at what that takes:

Here is an interesting steering wheel:

The display of art was wonderful. My favorite is this one:

Of course, if you were hungry, you could try some bananas:

There was an excellent selection of food. Tried the enchiladas from Guatemala, the rellena from Peru and some wonderful tamales from Mexico. The green was spicy and better than the red. I was kind of surprised that the other food was actually kind of bland.

I thought the cost was a bit steep for what was being offered, but I might be wrong. It was $7 per person or $5 with the donation of 3 canned goods. Music was good, cars were interesting, art was wonderful but there wasn't much else in the evening.

Bright Oak Meats, on the corner of 7th and Main Street in downtown Springfield Oregon is a real find. I didn't know about it until word of mouth reached my ear, and I had driven by it many times.  See, I am not just about flowers and vegetables. I like meat too.

Local meat and different meat than you find in Safeway or Albertsons is what is available at Bright Oak Meats. But, what brought me in the door was the jerky. I love jerky and they make their own. Also, they have several different flavors of jerky.

Great price on the scales, but that is for pepperoni, not jerky. Fast, friendly, helpful service. My favorite flavor of jerkey is the sweet and spicy. Although, I tried the buffalo last time and it was very flavorful, if a bit on the dry side. Now, that is funny, jerky on the dry side.

They also serve up steaks, roasts, hamburger and the like. I tried their New York strip and it was outstanding. I also had a boneless rib eye and it was also good, but surprising, the strip was better.

So, my recommendation for meat is to try Bright Oak Meats on 7th and Main Street in downtown Springfield. Let me know what you think.

The above mural is what you see when you pull up to the Springfield Farmers' market. The market is open every Friday (during the growing season) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The market is located between 5th & 6th Streets on Main Street in downtown Springfield. It is being held in the Springfield Museum parking lot.

When I was there today, there weren't very many vendors, but the ones there seemed to have a lot of great produce that was grown locally. I purchased some yellow grape tomatoes and lemon cucumbers. I guess it was my day to go yellow.

Personally, I can't wait until sweet corn and ripe red tomatoes are on the list of available produce. There were red tomatoes available, but weren't ripe, so I passed. For me, there is nothing better than Willamette Valley sweet corn on the cob. Of course, it should be dripping in butter, that makes it soooo good for you. LOL

Since we had a fairly late spring, I saw something I didn't expect, and that was these outstanding strawberries. Just so you know, our strawberries are the best for flavor. These are really colorful, but I didn't try them for flavor.

There were also colorful flowers on display for sale. If you were hungry, there are also refreshments available. So, try the Springfield Farmers' Market.  See you there!