Alive @ 5!

One of the things that Helena does well in the summertime is Alive @ 5. What started a number of years ago as a downtown party for maybe 500 people (on a good day) with food, beer and music, has developed into the premier street party series in the state. Even Spokane, WA has added a similar thing, but with nowhere near the results! Other towns have attempted it, maybe with music for an hour or two, or with their parties happening every two to three weeks. None of them can hold a beer cozy to Helena!

Locations vary along the downtown mile, from the middle of the street, to store fronts, to one of a couple of different parks. The beer starts flowing at 5:00 (duh), with music starting at 6:00, and continuing on until 9:00. Rain or shine. Food, games, music, beer, dancing, etc., etc. People from other towns come to Helena, just for Alive @ 5! Last year was the most successful, with crowds nearing 3000 during the middle of the summer. This is the reason God invented summer!One of the exciting things to happen at this first one of 2005 was to actually spend some real face to face time with fellow blogger Rachel! We've known that we lived in the same town for awhile now, but until this past week, we'd never actually met. Well, that's no longer the case! This is the two of us after a couple of cold ones---Yeah, we're in the shadows. Oh, well. Possibly the most exciting thing about all this was to find out exactly what she looked like--that little photo in her profile doesn't do her justice! So I offer this one from dinner later in the evening--Guys--she's fun, she's funny, she's a kick in the pants! We hit it off well, and I don't think this is the last you're going to hear from us. In fact, I can guarantee that! So if you should find yourself in Helena on a Wednesday, go downtown (head for the music), and look for us. We'll be over by the beer!

The Ladies

This would be Mom and the sisters after our Mother's Day golf outing. From left to right: Sister 2, Sister 3, Mom (behind the flowers--I'll have to find something better....), and S3's oldest (Niece 3). Not a great picture, since no one's looking at the camera, but at least it's better than looking at my lip!
These two young ladies are my nieces (S2's girls). For ID purposes, we'll call them N1 & N2. Despite their apparent disinterest in Mother's Day, they really are good kids. Disgustingly good, even!

Ooh, the artwork behind the lampshade (which you can't see very well) is the same artwork referred to here.

I also notice that my photos here are not terribly good. Faces behind flowers or magazines, no one looking at the camera, artwork behind the lamp. I'm really much better than this. Really!