Harrogate was a zoo. The streets were packed with llamas, goats, and people on horseback.
After we parked, we wandered toward the town square like we were in a wedding disaster movie. Across from us, a goat jumped through a window of the town hall building right onto a car, setting off the alarm.
“What are they doing with those?” I pointed at the bridal effigies.
“You don’t want to know,” Sebastian said grimly. “But I hope everyone in the vicinity has good insurance.”
“I can’t believe you’re here! You’re a godsend!” Meg hurried over, hugged each of us, and then started apologizing profusely.
“Don’t even worry about it,” Ivy said. “Obviously there were mistakes on both sides.”
I hung my head.
“But now we are all here to put on your dream wedding,” Ivy continued.
“Good luck!” Meg said, gesturing at the chaos. “At this point, maybe we should just cancel the wedding and move it to another day when there’s not a festival.”
“And have to go through this whole thing again?” I asked.
“Don’t worry. In a few hours, this will be a picture-perfect small-town festival,” Ivy assured Meg.
Grace was already tapping away on her phone. “I just uploaded the social media posts about the scavenger hunt.”
“The what?” Sebastian asked.
“We need to keep people occupied,” Ivy explained, “so we developed a very complicated scavenger hunt. People have to look at clues, figure out what building, landmark, food item, or other things they’re supposed to be finding, and take a picture of themselves with the clue and tag it on social media. There are prizes that you can be entered to win if you complete the scavenger hunt.”
“I just texted my grandfather and his farmhand,” I said. “They’re bringing the dogs down here to clear the goats out of city hall. Now, where is the festival committee?”
We found Ida in a packed café off the town square, arguing with Hunter’s brother Crawford.
“I’m in charge of security,” Crawford said. “And I don’t want all these people just running around.”
“It’s a festival!” Ida yelled at him. “I am the chair of the festival committee. I’m in charge of the festival, and you have to listen to what I say.”
Ivy clapped. “Ida, we very much appreciate your help, but if this is supposed to be a festival, it doesn’t look very much like one.”
“It’s pure chaos. I can’t get a handle on all the people,” Crawford said, exasperated, “and she keeps giving different orders to my team.”
“Ida, we have news crews coming here. We need the effigies gone,” I stated.
“But…but…” she began to protest.
“Save them for the Halloween festival. They are extremely creepy and will burn nicely.”
Ida tapped her head. “I like how you’re thinking.”
“Also, send word around that people with stalls can go ahead and start setting up. That will give them something to do and provide order,” I added.
Ida grabbed Dottie, and she started making calls.
“We need to have the official festival rules instated now,” I said, “since so many people arrived early. Meg, can you amend the festival permit to start today? We cannot allow any cars in town right now. Crawford, once we have stalls set up, that will help direct pedestrian traffic. While Ida organizes the stalls, could you have your people go around to local businesses and see if they need help with security? And tell your brother that if he wants his train out, he can’t be running it up and down Main Street. It is only going to run right after the wedding ceremony. Then it will be parked for pictures.”
A tourist jostled me, trying to get to the front counter.
“I’ll make a post on the local Facebook group to see if there are townspeople who can help volunteer at restaurants or the festival,” Elsie said. “Ida, can you and the festival committee help coordinate?”
She saluted Elsie. “Yes, ma’am.”
