Dragons in Oriental

The town of Oriental is full of dragons. I was mystified at first about this dragon theme. They are painted on the sides of people's very-large out-buildings:

(Isn't this cool?)

People plant them in their yards. Can you see its head? It's swimming in grass!

And all over town, there are little "dragon eggs" with warning signs posted next to them.  Protect the baby dragons! Aren't they cute?

Someone did some nice artwork here. This egg is at the town's little beach.

I love the sign :)

I asked a friend at the farmer's market about the dragon theme. Why dragons? She said it's because of the town's name: "Oriental." (I'll address the choice of the town's name in another post.) But dragons, i.e., Chinese dragons, and Oriental ... well, they seemed to go together, I suppose. In January, the town has a big "Chinese New Year" festival, complete with a full-sized Chinese dragon dashing through the streets. That'll be a sight to see! And we have Dragon Boat Races in August -- yet more dragons! You can be sure I'll have photos of all this for your enjoyment.