Ratha Yatra a Huge Success!

Hare Krishna!
Ratha Yatra 2010While it has been a while since we have posted news, it does not mean that we were idle. All of us at Gita Nagari were knee deep in preparations for this year's Ratha Yatra for the past few weeks.
By all accounts this year's festival was a huge success. Puspavan prabhu, who headed the kitchen staff for the day told me that he would prepare for 300 visitors. By all accounts we must have had more because scarcely 45 minutes after the serve out began, I received word that everything had been served out! We heard continuous raves about the feast at our Adopt a Cow tent. Many thanks to Puspavan and crew!
New this year were Nick and Tara Richtscheit, a couple from Allensville, PA, who supplied us with horse and carriage ride, which were extremely well received buy all devotees who took advantage of it. As you may know, the festival was held for the second year in a row at the top of the hill by the greenhouse and garden. It's quite a hike to get to and from the temple and the carriage was a most welcome addition. We look forward to engaging them again next year.
The weather could not have been better for the day. We had mostly sunshine and the themometer did not climb into the 90's for once - Lord Jagannath also held the humidity at bay.
We sent out a number of news releases to various papers in the area and were able to greet guests from as far away as Chambersburg, PA, who had never been at a festival like this before. We hope to enlarge on that aspect next year by inviting folks from the surrounding area. The people I had a chance to talk to really liked the festival. They were especially fascinated that we take the Lord out of his house and that everyone could have a hand in pulling the cart.
New this year was small Rath cart constructed by Hemagaura prabhu, especially for the children, since they are often too short to be able to pull the large cart without danger to them. It too was a success from what I was able to observe.
The entertainment  under the able direction of M Vraja lila, was superb as usual. Not only did our own children perform a play/dance but we had visitors from Harrisburg, Potomac, and New York who put on quite a show for us.
Even Sri Sri Radha Damodara paid a visit. Sri Sri Radha DamodaraThey were situated in the proper spot to be able to take in all the festivities during the course of the afternoon. They arrived in style in the horse drawn carriage.
Pandu prabhu and family brought two of their sheep, so that the visitors could interact with them and see what a fleece feels like. Our youngest calf Laksman also made an appearance. He was right in the middle of the festivities all afternoon, and he was very good natured. Everyone wanted to pet him!
Of course, the log sawing contest was a challenge for a number of young people as you can see. I am not sure how many logs were sawed, but it appeared that everyone had a great time!
I know that I am forgetting many people and things that I should mention, alas, I was busy in the Adopt a Cow tent all day and so not able to mingle as much as I would have liked.
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Our many thanks to everyone who came and helped make this a wonderful pastime for all of us. 
Your servant, Ortrun