When the smell of fried fish wafts through the cold air of early February on a Friday night in Vining, it’s a sure sign the community’s annual Testicle Festival is upon us. Following a pandemic hiatus, T-Fest was welcomed back in full force on Friday, Feb. 4. Vining’s C.S.A. Hall was packed with hungry folks long before the 5 o’clock supper hour. As evidenced by the license plates in the parking lot, people from both within and outside Tama County’s borders were ready to support the local Czech hall by purchasing a hearty plate of “rocky mountain oysters” made with pork, fried fish, baked beans, and chips. Vining resident Zoie Harper Schoenhut, 3, was in attendance at the event with her mother Mary Jo Bazal. The last time Zoie attended T-Fest, her mother said, she was just an infant. While Zoie dined on fried fish dipped in ketchup at a table near the back bar, her grandparents Daryl and Barb Bazal and aunt Hannah were working hard in the kitchen to feed the dozens and dozens of testicle festival-goers including state Rep. Dean Fisher who was observed quickly making his way up the Hall’s front steps minutes after 5:00 p.m. – a lengthy line awaiting him just beyond the more than a century-old landmark’s white front doors.