Comments on: Local festivals

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:02:54 +0000

Barbara, this year I didn’t see the local tamales and carne asada taco vendors like in past years, but then I didn’t walk the entire event. I did walk through the food vendor court at the north block of the event on Main St, but since I was early, they may have not all been open yet. I got that burrito at one of the local businesses that’s there everyday.

Besides the couple of vendors that I bought the strawberries and avocados from, I stopped and talked to one other on my targeted entry and exit from the festival (I didn’t feel very well, otherwise I might have stayed and strayed more). It ended up they were from a huge corporation that I shall not name, and get this, they weren’t even selling any product! I guess their presence was all just corporate PR.

Oh, how nice it must be to have the kind of cash flow that you can buy a booth at a fair and not even be directly concerned with selling product!

I vaguely recall distant memories of trying the selling of product at a swap meet some decades ago, myself. Remember? I guess only a very few are left standing today.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:17:06 +0000

Barbara, I was thinking along much the same lines as I went to the Farmer’s Market on Sunday (it opens at 8, so it was still pretty cool). I haven’t been to it for a while, and I was horrified to find produce from Chile (!) and “handcrafts” from China. I bought some strawberries and radishes and went home.

By: violetismycolor

violetismycolor — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:39:11 +0000

I’m now in the mood for a carne asada burrito and some avocado. Our just-came-to-town relatives tried to go to the tulip festival and never got there because of miles and miles of backed up traffic.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:36:17 +0000

Eric — Yes, lilacs are more pleasant without a crowd. Traffic congestion is bad for our festival too, and the only reason we ever attend is that we’re close enough we can walk, since it’s about a half mile away from us to the main street where the event is held. I’m glad I didn’t walk there today and have to drag home in what’s now 89 degree (gasp) heat. I hope everyone had a hat and stayed cool enough, and now I’m doubly content with my decision to stay home. Maybe next year….

By: Eric Mayer

Eric Mayer — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:09:36 +0000

The whole country is becoming, in some ways, homogenized. Unfortunately what is good for commerce isn’t necessarily good for people. Or maybe most prefer seeing those same vendors everywhere.

In Rochester New York there’s an annual Lilac Festival at Highland Park which boasts gorgeous lilacs. But over the years it got bigger and bigger. It got so you had to park about a mile away. They arranged shuttle buses. It became a nightmare of congestion, traffic, crowds trampling to death every blade of grass in the park, vendors selling everything everywhere you looked. How could anyone appreciate natural beauty amidst an ugly mob scene? Did anyone really come to see the llacs? I doubt it. It was just another shopping excursion. The time to see the lilacs was when the crowds weren’t there.