These are photos taken at the 2009 SantaCaliGon Days Festival in Independence, MO. I'm drawn to the grassroots entrepreneurial spirit on display at this event in a year that is by all economic accounts the most miserable of my lifetime. The odd assortment of aluminum siding installers and home-made root beer bottlers are not unlike so many amoebas in a reef, all of them straining the waters for sustenance.