- April 19, 2024
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Behold Dufus, the camel (Photos by Emily Blackwood).
Ztipi Blatt works on her homemade Hasidic dolls.
Victoria Walker, 2, and Kylie Sellers, 11, were a few of the patient kids who got to ride a camel.
Roberto Mendez dressed up as the biblical character Aaron.
Bell (the dog) was not a fan of Dufus (the camel).
I had but one mission at the Jewish Heritage Festival this past weekend: to meet (and hopefully ride) a camel.
Oh and also to take some photos of the event for the paper (otherwise known as my job), but that was severely less important.
Upon arriving at the event, I speed walked and zig-zagged through the massive amounts of people to The Casements' north lawn, losing Nick about five times during the process. To my dismay, the line for camel rides went on for what looked like an eternity, and my impatient brain needed to find another way to get close to the beast.
That's when we spotted Dufus (and no I'm not being mean, that's really his name), leaning against the tall black fence just waiting for someone to come pet him.
We ran over, threw our arms in-between the fence posts and were immediately greeted with warm, blonde, scruffy fur. Dufus even let Nick pet his nose, which Nick quickly realized was covered in snot and got super grossed out.
But despite his running nostrils, Dufus had all the makings of a celebrity: mystery, overwhelming tallness, and a photogenic phase that casually said "look at me."
As I started snapping pictures, the camel took notice, lifted his face high to the sky, and turned his cheek. He was literally giving me his good side.
"He's so regal," Nick smiled, and we walked away feeling pretty certain that Dufus' name would someday be in lights.
