When I was a younger fella, I would regularly attend the Shad Festival in Lambertville, NJ. It wasn't much of a stretch for me as I grew up a few miles from the town and had a certain fondness for the area that stretches back to memories of fireworks in Lambertville every Fourth of July. The kind of night where you had to get there a good 3 hours early if you wanted a parking space.
For those of you that don't know, the Shad Festival is essentially a town fair in the guise of celebrating the migration of a fish. The town -- filled with gorgeous Victorian homes -- shuts down its streets and fills them with out of towners who eat and buy crap. The streets are crowded and people get pushy... but that's my cynical point of view.
I imposed a hiatus on myself for the Shad Festival about 5 to 6 years ago. I got fed up with a great deal about it and I vowed to not go back any time soon. This year... I decided to heed my wife's requests and my friend's suggestion and go to the Shad Festival. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we had a tremendous time... Here are just some of my observations....
* Allergies -- My allergies really decided to go into over dirive and kick me in the ass. I just wasn't ready for what they were dishing out. I haven't had a real problem in quite some time... and that is mostly because I have matured a bit. I learned to stop scratching my eyes as discomfort would always result. I forgot that lesson and allowed myself to scratch my eyes raw -- so bad so that on the ride home, we stopped to buy me a bottle of soda... not for drinking but to apply to my eye so that I would stop the burning in my eyes...]
* Shad Juice -- Some of the food stands were selling shad juice. I don't know... nor do I really care if the juice was truly squeezed from a shad, but I do not even want to think about the possibilities here. The idea of it is astonishing to me. Here's the kicker... About half way through the day... there was a "Sold Out" sign by the Shad Juice listing... ick...
* Other Shad Fests -- I thought that the great town of Lambertville would be the only town to think of holding a Shad Festival... but noooo! When you do a Google search for Shad Festival, you find that there are festivals in Pennsylvania, Canada, and Oregon for starters... Amazing...
* Return of the Summer Clothes -- I am far from a super model or anything on the thin side, but I recognize my limitations. The warm weather is a reminder to me of how truly clueless people are of their bodies. Thanks for wearing that belling shirt... but do you realize that your belly covers more of your pants than the shirt covers your torso? Ick.
* Substance -- Why were there so many people for so little substance? It was pretty uneventful... with a tight food court and unfriendly people... why are people driving miles upon miles to come? Our reason was to see friends... what was everyone elses?
* Shad Jerky -- Ona positive note, we were treated to an authentic W.A.S.P.y man dressed up as an authentic Native American explaining how to make Shad Jerky. Fun times...
Until next year!!!
1 comment:
too many people mistake a belly-shirt for a beer-belly-shirt..it's very sickenning!
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