During the annual Moose Dropping Festival is when our little town truly adopts the 'carnival' atmosphere; the streets are lined with booths offering  food, crafts, native beadwork, leather and artwork and the Fairview Inn is at the center of it all. Throughout the day kids and adults alike  will be dropping in to show off their painted faces or some new purchase they made from one of the many stalls. During the Moose  Dropping Festival there is an annual Glen Koch Memorial Softball Tournament (one pitch). The Mandingos, old and young alike, are the team sponsored by the Fairview Inn and hence, the bar becomes a hub for the other teams. The teams rest up between games, quench their thirst, talk theory and tactics (yeh, right…), spread rumors and of course brag. Old softball games, hits, scores and runs batted in, seem to go the way of old fishing trips; the hit went further, and there really was four people on base! Jocularity and beer drinking bouts between teams is more the theme of this tournament than physical fitness. The annual Moose Dropping Parade goes right past the windows of the Fairview Inn on Main Street, not once-but twice-as seems to be the custom with parades in our little town; I suppose it's in case you miss something the first time. And there is plenty to see-possibly a kazoo band-in Talkeetna-anything at anytime can occur.   We get a variety of entrants each year but for sure you will be seeing, in full regalia, a Scottish bagpipe troupe with banners and kilts a-marchin' and bagpipes a-blowin'. As an added bonus -or perhaps bagpipe blowing is a thirst- driving activity, the bagpipe band never seems to make the full second circuit of the parade-they tend to veer off near the  Fairview and march right on in-where pitchers of ice cold beer await them. If you bump into some of the old Mandingo players and catch a little bit of history-either along the fence at the games or at the Fairview Inn later where, sweaty uniforms and all, we host quite  a party with a band for the Annual Moose Drop Bop. If you catch us in a good year and our team has taken the trophy you will most likely hear the Mandingo Song (20 times) and possibly witness a Mandingo Beer Slide. If you come to the  Fairview Inn during the Moose Dropping Festival you will definitely have some pictures for one section of your photo album-PRICELESS!