That Time of Year
It’s the time of year for street festivals. People are ready to put on shorts and tank tops, get some sun, have a beer, and eat something on a stick. I hadn’t actually meant to go to this one but I needed to pick up a couple of drill bits from the local hardware store, so I dropped by on my walk down.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. This was technically the first year. The previous festival that was held around this time collapsed after the organizer alienated too many people and left town. But the merchant association decided to fill the hole in the calendar with a new version, and promotion was pretty light.
But a ton of people showed up. The exact theme of it was a bit scattered. There was a pride element.
There was some random music, like this bluegrass group.
And a DJ playing hiphop.
There were tattoo artists offering ink (and fake tattoos).
And of course, more crowds.
After living in Chicago with the countless street festivals, it was a bit of an adjustment coming out here to rural Appalachia. I can still find great street fairs, and I try to go often, but it’s not like Chicago where this time of year you can walk down the street and just bump into every kind of fest.
One fun thing is how shutting down a few blocks to cars completely changes the mood of people. There are enough around that drivers seem to deal pretty well with detours.
These streets predated cars, so I get the feeling that in some ways crowds of people in the streets is how it used to be, minus all of the horse poop.
We have different festivals every week in the summer & a bunch in Seattle are for specific cultures. Near me, we just had our giant plant & garden art festival. This year was one of the biggest & my wife went a little crazy buying random plants & art. She has been wanting this cool sprinkler that is copper with a glass ball that spins as it waters the yard. She loves this thing so much!
I think I’ve seen those but never knew they had a function until now.
week long street festival here next week
ill probably need to adjust my route to work to avoid the zombies around town center in the mornings
i love the weeklong party and the races…..but goddamn the still ambulatory 6 am drunks are wildly unpredictable and occasionally feral
Do they have to supply their own booze after a while, or do the bars stay open?
typically the last music sets end about 3 or 4 am…thats also when the booze gets cut
mostly…some of the clubs definitely keep going till 5 or 6
OK, I can see how that leads to unpredictable feral types in the morning.
is a dutch thing tbh…..i kinda got used to the english way of doing a night out….you know…where about midnight is when going home usually happens…..here about midnight is where nights out start
I would KILL for a street festival that is that uncrowded. People here descend on these events in such numbers that I am typically ready to leave within 10 minutes.
Yours looks low-key but still active enough to be entertaining.