Travels In Blue Honey: The Gumbo Ya-Ya Festival

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The Quad Cities, Davenport & Bettendorf in Iowa, Racine and Rock Island in Illinois host a wonderful and varied night life with many festivals through out the year. The four cities straddle the Mississippi River with the night life along the riverside in each city. We started our crawl to the The Gumbo Ya-Ya Festival in Rock Island, Ill, by stopping in The Muddy Waters Saloon in Bettendorf where we met Hal & Kristi. The Muddy Waters is a stop on the Cruisin' the Blues Highway tour. Read about it at the link provided. Stop in and see Hal (a Harp player) and Kristi, the proprietor. Tell 'em Blue Honey sent you! We then went to the 11th Street Precinct in Davenport for sandwiches and adult beverages. Our waitress, Taylor, recommended a local concoction dear to her heart, the uncommon Bomb, made of Jamesons , Kahlula, and Bailey's all dropped in a locally brewed beer. It was a good thing to start the evening out with.

Taylor (on left and friend)

There is a shuttle service that for $1 will take you on a loop through all the of the entertainment districts in the 4 cities of the Quad. As luck would have it Taylor's Mom, Paula drove one of the shuttles. Taylor told us where to get on and to get a ride to the Gumbo Ya-Ya Festival (Mardi Gras North) that was being held in Rock Island. We got on Paula's shuttle and she took us right there!

The lovely Paula

On the way we passed Casinos, a Minor League Baseball game, a Roller Derby ad, and more music and food establishments than you could float a barge on! The shuttle held many wonderful and unusual sights all night long including this lovely lady with the purple penis headdress.

The first encounter we had at the Ya-Ya was with Dimitri and his Vampire Clan. They had come to the festival in search of blood and converts.

Dimitri and Snooky.

Kata

Henchman

The girl next door - who wants to drink your blood.

The Beauty

Hagar

Olivia

I told Dimitri I wanted to join his clan and he said he would take me when I get back from Alaska. In reality Dimitri and his Krewe leave their everyday characters to become these vampires and come to the Ya-Ya festival every year to entertain the crowds. It's all unofficial and just an example of how you don't have to live an ordinary life if you dont want to. For the Caribbean Festival they are Pirates!

After the Vampires we kept running into a different kind of lusting after another life - bachelorette parties!

Denise's Madcap Party

The most fun group and cutest girls award went to Denise's bachelor party. They were great fun and were'nt afraid to interact with the crowds - though I worry about that crazy tattoo they made her get - and where it is on her body. Might be hard to explain to the new Mr!

And of course there was the music. The boogie woogie swing of Davina and the Vagabonds made people dance with strangers, confess their sins and return the things they hadn't stolen! Check them out: