The Town Fair

Isabelle looked up from her desk. It had just started to snow a few hours ago, and already it was piling up. Remembering that the mayor was out of town and she was the interim mayor, she got up, and went to the door, grabbing the shovel leaning on the wall next to it.

Her fur bristled when she got outside. It was colder than she had thought, and Isabelle forgot her gloves at home. Gripping the shovel tightly, she got to work clearing the snow from the plaza around town hall. As she shoveled, she got to thinking about the town. Nobody really liked December. Sure, there was Christmas and New Years' Eve, but there were those few weeks were nothing happened. Cherry and Tutu usually would team up to try and cheer up the town, but it tended to be in vain. Nothing could shake the town out of the seasonal blues.

Half an hour and a cleared plaza later, Isabelle had an idea. The town had to have some sort of December tradition that had long been forgotten. It was time for something she loved to do, yet never had the time to do it since high school: Research. Isabelle loved doing research. Sitting at her desk with a cup of tea and a big book in front of her was one of Isabelle's favorite past-times, yet, after becoming the secretary, her time was usually taken up by filling out and filing paperwork.

Isabelle opened the door behind the mayor's desk to the hallway. One door in the hallway led to the living quarters for Isabelle and her brother Digby. Another led to the archives, and a third led to the library. It was this door that Isabelle opened. The library was very rarely used, and a thin layer of dust could be seen on the books in the far back. Isabelle had a small sneezing fit, but proceeding into the library anyways. The bookshelf on the right had a label on the end: “Town History”. The first book on the list was “Town History 1993 to 1994”. It was the smallest book on the shelf, and she grabbed it, along with the next one so she wouldn't have to get up as much.

After the first three books, Isabelle finally had an idea to perk up the town for December. There was an event in the past that had died out in the late nineties. It was known as the Town Fair. The entire town decorated, and everybody took part. Even villagers who didn't care for the other events would join up. They would decorate their houses, and hold contests. From everything to writing, drawing, and baking, everybody in town would have something to participate in. Isabelle was amazed that one year, the legendary artist, Wendell, came to visit.

Without a doubt, Isabelle knew what she had to do. This would be the perfect event to hold! She started writing down a few notes on a scrap piece of paper. It would last three weeks, and instead of using everybody's houses, they would build stalls in the town square. Isabelle wrote down a few names to call: Wendell, to see if he would return. Redd, despite being on the shady side of the law, could be a valuable asset to getting some stock in to sell at the fair. Saharah could help build the stalls. Blanca could help with entertainment.

There would be five stalls surrounding the town tree. Isabelle planned on a contest to design the town hall sign. Another stall would house the “What would you do?” contest, where villagers could pretend to be mayor and plan their own town. Art contests would be at another tent, and a fourth tent would hold the cooking contest. Finally, she planned on having a photo booth for the villagers to show off their houses according to various theme challenges that Lyle would provide.

It appeared that Isabelle had everything planned. The town fair would start on Wednesday, leaving three days to prepare. She knew this would be a hit with the villagers. She gathered her notes and ran back to her desk. She grabbed a pen from the mayor's desk on her way, and started writing her speech to give to the others in town almost immediately. Digby, coming in town hall on his break, rolled his eyes at his sister doing mayoral work. In his mind, she was just the stand-in mayor. She didn't have to do anything major. That was the mayor's job, and he was out travelling.

At noon on Wednesday, the villagers gathered at the town square around the town tree. A few of them were whispering about the tree itself, some others were rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Isabelle was running to the square, and, upon noticing what was growing on the tree, was filled with glee. She had a perfect way to introduce the festival. She coughed to get everybody's attention, and began to speak.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Bell Tree Fair!”