Soon after the grand parade, there was the official coronation, where their royal crowns were placed on their heads. It was at this moment that the handsome newly crowned king performed his first honorable and exquisitely perfected duty. He caught his Queen’s already slipping crown. (oh dear…so soon)

A little later in the day, they performed their first official duty by serving their subjects pieces of a huge moon pie baked especially for that day. They did this with grace and so much class that the waitresses at the famed Bell Buckle Cafe stared in disbelief and in hopes of picking up some valuable tricks of the trade.

That evening the Queen whipped into perfection with her own dainty little hands a huge banana pudding…while the King literally sang for his supper nearby. You see, this was necessary because the Queen, in their move to Bell Buckle, had lost all of her pots and pans.

As the day came to a close, family and friends of the royal family said their goodbyes…and the King and Queen took their pretty princesses back to their warm and charming palace….knowing that all was well in their kingdom, after a day filled with fun and love.

My wife, Julie, and I live in the big brick house on Maple. I’m also one of the Aldermen. I’ll see you Saturday…I’m the frontman for Speakeasy. Stop and say hi.

Welcome home!

p.s. Don’t tell anyone, but we’ve got an AWESOME July 4th music/fireworks display too! (It’s Bedford county’s best kept secret.)

Hope your reign is a happy one! Do the little princesses get to ride in the royal carriage? And get free Moon Pies? Are they jealous or embarrassed?

Hurry up with the pictures already——-we don’t care if there are unopened boxes cluttering the place! We can identify! Can we please see your living room? We’ll take our shoes off. Promise.

small j: Oh, there WILL be filming… whether I like it or not!

Momma Lloyd: You definitely have a special royal dispensation that excludes you from having to curtsey– hugs will be gratefully accepted! Shoot, I may curtsey to YOU!

Lake Neuron: Hey John! Welcome to ‘Bloomr Nation, so happy you’ve joined the conversation! And thank you for your great explanation of the wonder that is the moon pie– we have a lot of international folks around here, and they are understandably underinformed!

Gramma Jac: Hold on– I’m coming to help you! *gathers up royal skirts and runs like the dickens in your general direction*

bettyrwoodward: Our timing was definitely off– I would SO love to have you experience this! Though of course, you are used to a slightly different level of royal coronation…

rachelbaker: Yep, as John said, you nailed it– “fun and slightly bizarre” says it all! (Just like Russ and I!)

In old days, Royal Crown or “RC” Cola came in a larger-size glass bottle than either Coke or Pepsi, for the same price, and Moon Pie was one of the largest snack items sold in little country stores. So laborers would combine the two for sort of a make-do, on-the-go lunch, and the two products became linked in southern culture.

Bell Buckle had a little generic community festival on the third Saturday in June, but it wasn’t doing well, and in 1995 one of the merchants happened to hear about the Moon Pie celebrating its 75th anniversary. So the town approached Chattanooga Bakery for permission to hold a Moon Pie festival. Company officials, not expecting much, shrugged and said “sure.” But the festival became a huge success. “Fun and slightly bizarre” is a quite accurate description.

Is it bad that I’m not entirely sure what a moon pie is?

Bell Buckle looks and sounds wonderful. The festival? Fun and slightly bizarre!

(I’m still in it–I don’t think I can get up!)

Congrats!!!! (On the move to B.B. and the move into royalty!)

John Carney ( http://lakeneuron.com )

Let’s make a deal…let’s hug. I’m pretty good at that. Shucks, I just remembered that I can’t touch you.

Well, I know you will be delightfully happy during your year-long reign. As for me, I’ll be glad when it’s over so I can get a plain ‘ole hug.

Please ask Charlotte to film that for us = )

auburn60: To tell you the truth, I’ve never actually attended the Moon Pie Festival before– but the thought of 10-15,000 people descending on Bell Buckle does kind of boggle my mind! I know all of the shop owners are definitely gearing up, they are having entire pallets of Moon Pies delivered daily! And oh yes, I plan to happily reign right up until this time next year when they pry my crown and sash away from me!

small j: I’ll have my minions get right on it. (I’ll probably get some minions along with the title, wouldn’t you think?)

AND, now that you are Moon Pie Royalty and all, any connections with gettin’ a Moon Pie care package off to Moon Pie lackin’ Helsinki, Finland with a nice variety of them delicious little devils ?? = D

Missed you lots – glad you’re back!