We attended our second Hawk Festival today, and although there was a Boy Scout whose mother is a member of the local raptor rescue group who was clearly well-versed in things hawklike, it is safe to say: we were the only family sporting a much-loved toy perigrine falcon, plus a hand-made, custom-ordered pink perigrine falcon tshirt. (There were many, many raptor tshirts, but not on children, and not pink.) 
The kids enjoyed the finale, which was the release of a golden eagle back into the wild. She was gorgeous, and fierce, and huge. I've never seen such a big bird up so close. The nice folks from the raptor rescue group are grooming the kids to take over that task when they're adults, and honestly, that seems like a really cool job. Although I am not ready to have raptors in my basement just yet, thanks very much.
It was Grace's third encounter with a real perigrine falcon, and she was delighted.
