Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Conversations continue on the porch of the Fergi shop as some of the many dogs lounge with their humans and wait for the next snowball fight or other excitement.

It was April Fool’s Day, and the weather may have tried to make a fool of the friends of Fergi Fest – but you just can’t make a fool of foolishness.

So what if the racecourse at the Lion’s Club owned Fergusun Ridge Ski Area outside of Joseph was snow at the top and grass at the bottom. And who cares if the course ended in mud around the finish line (the porch area of the clubhouse). Having a racecourse that was mostly grass limited events, but nobody was bothered. The ski golf competitions for kids and adults went on and a demonstration lawn chair race livened the afternoon.

Fergi Fest is much more about friends meeting friends, and the lack of events didn’t really slow the celebration. There was beer, there was a potluck, there was great music by Matt Harshman and Friends, and there were lots of ski buddies to catch up with.

And the “dog park” atmosphere thrilled the many dogs that attend Fergi Fest.

Scott Miller won the adult ski-golf. Second place went to Levi Stubblefield whose final shot of the tennis ball/golf ball onto the porch that hit JoAnn Frioli right in the head. She did a dramatic flop for effect, but no serious damage was done.

Mateo Mazariegos, 9, of Portland won the kid’s golf.

No lawn chair racers showed this year, correctly assuming that the snow was too far gone, but Lion’s Club President Jerry Hustafa, dragged two “veteran” lawn chair sleds out of storage and talked John Rombach into racing him.

Hustafa was declared the winner after he took a dive out of his runaway sled rather than run down the photographer and ended up pushing his sled the remainder of the way down the hill. There was some good natured disagreement about that win, since Rombach, in second place, kept his behind in the chair for most of the way.

”I thought that was a good strategy,” Rombach said.