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Dear Friends of Riley's Farm:
Memorial Day Weekend: We will be open Saturday and Monday on this holiday weekend, with strawberry picking, Revolutionary Evenings on Saturday night, Adventures in the Old World, and a musket fire tribute on Monday. Combine that with lots of good food, ale, hard cider and live music, and you have a great way to start the summer.
Speaking of the summer: We're doing our best to give you lots of options. We will feature Colonial Faire July 4-6, Ragtime Medley in late July and August, Rockabilly and Big Band Nights in late August. We expect Meteor Shower Watching Night on August 12. (That's a Monday night. Think it will work? Last year, we were packed in both parking lots, but it was a Saturday night.) Oh and by the way, don't forget your DAD on June 15th.
Sleepy Hollow Warning: Two Friday night October performances are now sold out. We expect to open up more dates, but if Fridays and Saturdays are important to you, get your tickets soon.
Cowboy Hoedowns at the Packing Shed: I learned something from the Yucaipa Rodeo: young people these days seem to be having a cowboy & cowgirl renaissance. They like denim, leather, and Stetsons. We are going to partner with Seth Riley to bring back the square (and maybe line) dance tradition in the 1880s Packing Shed. Be watching for dates. This will be a "dance ticket only" event, so you can buy as little or as much as you want at the barbecue. Like "Rockabilly," we're trying to offer some more affordable Saturday night events.
I will never understand: A few years ago, we took some of the family to Churchill Downs on a regular race day, (not the derby). They have an oval, surround theater featuring the history of the track, and the great horses that have crossed the finish line over the centuries. The beauty, and the pageantry, and the tradition of the thing must be deeply moving. You know I'm an easy target, but one of my adult sons was wiping away a tear at the presentation. Horse racing is downright majestic, but just this week, some mommy-blogger took to Instagram and lamented petting zoos, rodeos, and horse-racing as being "unethical." Honestly, I will never understand some of these virtue-signaling weirdoes. "Breathes there a gal with soul so dead, who never to herself hath said, 'this is my wager right here on that bay-colored three year old.'"
Prayers and Sales Coveted: Although field trips and dinner theater are on the rise, significantly, we face eight weeks of summer without very much on the books. Unlike many seasonal businesses, we try to give our core staff hours even when we aren't making money, because we know you like seeing familiar faces. As a result and as ALWAYS this time of year, I am stressed. We're trying to provide an alternative in a vast sea of Southern California cultural rot, and I'm not ashamed to beg: we need your help. Take the church kids on a field trip this summer. Buy dinner theater tickets. Have dinner with us. Plan a party! If you can't do any of that, (and even if you can), say a prayer for this old place. It's fragile.
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