We entered Watonga around 10 a.m. on a Friday morning. It was a strange time to stage the 42nd Annual Cheese Festival, but, in Oklahoma, anything goes at these small-town celebrations, including a startling array of miniature horses that were out and about, just begging for a wannabe horse whisperer like me to befriend and, ultimately, love.
As we parked the car on the edge of the festival, past the Extreme Survivor inflatable bounce, standing in the morning shade of their trailer was about five or six of the specially-bred horses; were we supposed to be messing with these unguarded behooved treasures? Probably not, but after ten minutes of hanging with these little guys, the town of Watonga had already won me over.
As we walked down the center of Watonga, it was as desolate as I had expected, with a few ice cream stands selling their goods on the rather chilly day. From the looks of the place, it sadly seemed like the only dairy at the long-running cheese festival was this handful of dessert offerings. But, according to the permanent marker signage on the various storefront windows, inside a local church there were supposed to be various cheese tastings going on all day.