Thirty minutes later, Ryann was freshly showered. She wore her own red “Maid of Honor” T-shirt, Jos’s leather jacket, a warm black hat and scarf, black leggings, and knee-high boots. She and Maddie walked down the block from the hotel to the festival, the sun so bright and gorgeous, she was squinting even behind her sunglasses.

The entire downtown, it seemed, had been fenced off, and they had to wait in line to be carded for a wristband as they entered. It was warmer today, but still chilly, and the crowds inside the festival grounds were surprisingly dense for a Sunday afternoon. Already, nearly everyone in here seemed already on their first beer of the day. She and Maddie began searching for the others right away. She hadn’t thought this would be difficult, but it took them nearly half an hour and several phone calls to link up with Jai and Stuart next to one of the ice-cream carts. Both were wearing red “Groom to Be” T-shirts under their open white flannel shirts, and both seemed a little subdued after the wild shenanigans last night at the bachelors’ party. Stuart was pale and his eyes were a little red around the corners, and Jai was a bit green and pinched. Both were holding dark beers and sharing a corndog.

“Hey, ladies!” Stuart crowed, waving wildly when he spotted them.

“You just missed my sisters,” Jai said, pointing vaguely into the crowd, “but I’m sure we’ll bump into them again. My parents, Stuart’s parents, some of my cousins, and some of our other friends are supposedly here, too, but we keep missing each other.”

“I’m amazed how crowded it is,” Ryann said.

“It’s really the only thing happening this time of year like anywhere,” Stuart explained. “We get people from all over for it. We met a gay couple from Boston a few minutes ago.”

“Stuart invited them to the wedding,” Jai said, rolling his eyes. Everyone laughed.

“They were nice,” he said.

“And I thought my parents were bad,” Jai said, low but loud enough for all of them to hear.

Stuart briefly glared at him, and then his eyes went wide. “Oh! Maddie! We already saw it, and yours is definitely the best,” Stuart said. “You’re going to win for sure.”

“Totally,” Jai said.

“Win what?” Ryann asked.

“First prize. For her ice sculpture,” Stuart said.

“Really?”

Maddie nodded, a little sheepish.

Stuart rolled his eyes. “Hers is really the best one. There’s a competition. Sometimes it lasts the whole festival, but on a warm year like this, they put them out only for a single afternoon, and that’s today. You can vote and everything.”

“When did you have time to do it?” she asked.

“Last week. I had to carve it in a walk-in freezer.” Maddie shuddered.

“You’ve done one before?”

Maddie hesitated, appearing embarrassed. “No. This was the first one.”