Batavia’s Windmill City Festival offers family fun
Big sad eyes and a wagging tail. Few could walk by oblivious to the posse of puppies cleverly placed at the entrance to Windmill City Festival Saturday in Batavia.
Certainly not the Leutenberg family.
“Momma, come and look!” a 7-year-old begged his mother, as they stopped by the Anderson Animal Shelter booth to cuddle some hound-beagle mix rescues.
Asked if the location was strategic, shelter worker Lydia Turgon nodded. “Nothing draws attention like puppies,” she said.
But the dogs weren’t the only thing attracting crowds.
The long-running festival is a fixture along the Batavia Riverwalk. The last day is noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Features range from bands and a midway to a craft fair and ice-cream eating contest Sunday.
Girls from the Weber School of Irish Dancer jumped and pirouetted despite Saturday’s warm temperatures before an appreciative audience.
Eight-year-old Paige Miller admitted to some butterflies when the music started but “once you get onstage, it’s so exciting,” she explained.
Her sister Audrey said the heat actually “burned” her dance slippers, but hearing the applause “was a cooling relief.”
Meanwhile, dad Christian Leutenberg prepared to play the heavy when his daughter asked about bringing home one of the dogs.
“No, we’d need a bit more room,” he explained, cradling 18-month Liam in his arms while holding the leash of the family’s current dog, the Pomeranian Jersey.
The festival is run by the Batavia Chamber of Commerce.