Elizabeth Otto can't resist a crazy country party
Elizabeth Otto, author of Can't Resist a Cowboy (out this week!), shares how growing up in small-town America as a country girl helped shape her romance books.
Elizabeth: Chicken tossing is a thing.
Unless you grew up in Crazytown, Wisconsin, like I did, you probably don't have a clue what I'm talking about. I'm a country girl. And I'm the first to admit that we small-town, farming, wood-cutting, blue-collar set throw festivals and parties a little different than most. Thanks to the shenanigans of my friends and neighbors in my small town, and the micro communities around me, I rarely lack fun tidbits to add into my novels.
Like, lofting chickens off the roof during a winter festival.
In the opening of my new release, Can't Resist a Cowboy, the heroine attends a good old, rowdy country party in which chickens are being tossed from the roof of a local bar. The chickens make a safe landing and are properly returned to their coop, no harm, no fowl (heh). In the story, they do it as a good luck tradition.
In reality, one teeny town you've never heard of here in West Central Wisconsin started the chicken toss as a way to get rid of too many roosters. Things were getting a bit crowded in the "love nests" of a few coops around town. During their annual Pioneer Days, local farmers collected about 50 roosters, gathered on a low-loft roof and tossed the birds down to the waiting crowd. It stuck. And it grew, each year bringing more people to the festival to try their hand at catching a chicken or two. Chickens can fly a little, and thanks to the short height of the building, can make a graceful and safe landing to the ground if they aren't caught. But if they are? Well, you're welcome to keep what you catch, or hand 'em off to a neighbor.
Rumor has it, our local fair gets quite a few poultry entries from chickens caught by excited children and raised as pets.
Travel any small-town festival around here, and you're going to find a few quirks. Like, playing softball while holding an adult beverage in a mason jar in one hand. Or, having a street dance in 20-below-zero weather in the middle of January.
One of my favorites, though, is a bar in another small town you've never heard of, who holds their doors open wide so you could ride your horse inside, right up to the bar, and get yourself a beer — or maybe play a game of pool from the back of your horse. You may see a reference to this in Can't Resist a Cowboy, too, but let's just say it may not end well … or does it?
Next time you're driving through rural America, take a stop at a small-town festival. Just don't be surprised if you find the inside of the local bar has turned into a hitching post. Put a few carrots in your pocket, just in case.
About Can't Resist a Cowboy (courtesy of Entangled Indulgence):
Injured and discharged, Marine Levi Haywood has returned to his family's ranch in order to heal and start a new life. After all, once a cowboy, always a cowboy. The only problem? Life at the ranch has moved on since he joined the service, and suddenly his role is much less clear. And things get a lot more confusing when his childhood sweetheart shows up.
Carrie Lynn Waite has never known a time when she didn't love Levi. They were childhood sweethearts, but because of her illness, she was forced to move to the city, away from the ranching life. Now Carrie's come home only to learn her family's ranch is in trouble and Levi is back, along with an undeniable attraction she can't resist. But some things never change. Now Carrie must decide between her future...and the cowboy she could never resist.
Find out more about Elizabeth and her books at elizabethottowrites.blogspot.com.