What I wasn't expecting to find at my first Mule Days was just how laid back everybody was.

I've been to dozens of fairs and festivals in my life, and all of them were pretty similar -- families rushing from one livestock exhibit to the other, kids begging their parents for just one more ride on the Ferris wheel.

Not so on the muggy Friday afternoon I spent wandering around Benson. Most people were lounging about their campsites, tending to their mules and catching up with old friends they see at the festival.

I caught up with James Fullwood as he was brushing his horse's mane. He's been coming up from Florida for the past 15 years, and he told me he often passes up the big events for the joy of riding his horse through downtown and seeing the crowds.

"It's not like riding in the woods where you see nothing or nobody," he said.

A lot of places Fullwood goes allow horses on the road, but he said it's not much fun to deal with angry, speeding drivers. In Benson during Mule Days, the horses and mule-drawn buggies can back traffic up all over town, but no one seems to mind.

"You don't have to put up with the asphalt jungle," Fullwood said.

Apparently, a lot of events cater to horse lovers, and Fullwood travels around with his two horses to as many as he can. "Anywhere there's a ride going on, we go to it," he said, adding that he's gotten to know so many of the people that Mule Days almost feels like a family reunion.

The people are one reason Fullwood and many others keep coming back to Mule Days. You don't meet too many mean horse and mule lovers.

"You love a horse, you can love a human," Fullwood said.

Even the people who put in long hours making the event possible seemed to be having a good time, and if they were stressed out, I couldn't tell.

Our photographer and I made the mistake of trying to walk from downtown to the arena where the mule events are held, and we were lucky to catch a ride back with Mayor William Massengill, who was helping out with South Johnston High School's concession stand.

Because of our unfortunate walking tour, we missed out on the mule races, but Fullwood's probably right -- chatting up the regulars and seeing all the people and their steeds is just as fun.

I'll be sure to stay longer -- and drive to the arena -- at next year's Mule Days.