As expected, spent the entire day wandering the Cooper-Young Festival yesterday. That festival is like crack to me – for me it’s not so much the booths or the food, but the people. Mainly, getting to see people I haven’t seen in 5 or 10 years, as well as people who have seen me around town but who I’ve never actually met. Got a lot of “Hey, you used to be my math teacher!” and “Hey, aren’t you the blog guy?” and “Hey, you’re the guy who’s always at the Saucer” and “Hey, didn’t I used to see you at Six-1-Six back in the day?”
If you saw me at C-Y, you already know who I’m supporting for mayor. I’m make an official announcement on my blog tomorrow. Discussed political races with my friends Rich and Kaleigh for a few minutes, and it helped me realize that what I’ve done this past week in the mayoral race (turned away from one candidate and toward another) is also what I’m doing in the presidential race.
Dr. Bob had a booth there and I hung out there for quite a bit during the day with him and Pete from the Saucer and Laura (nice meeting you, Laura).
Brace yourselves: I’m about to say something positive that contains the word “Germantown.” This probably will never happen again. Germantown Commissary had a booth at the festival, and I’ve never tried their food but have heard good things about them for years. So I tried their BBQ nachos. Outstanding! Possibly even better than the nachos at the ballpark.
The beer prices at the official vendor booths SUCKED – $4 for a draft Bud or Bud Light. That’s beyond the upper limit of acceptable price – four bucks is gouging, plain and simple. So I didn’t buy beer from the official vendors. I discovered that Soul Fish Cafe had a beer stand and was selling 24 oz. tall boys of PBR for $4, so I did a couple of those. Later in the day I discovered that the convenience store at Main and Evelyn was open and had even better prices – got my third 24 oz. can of PBR for $1.30, tax included.
Good grief there were a lot of strollers there. I wouldn’t ever want to see strollers banned, because C-Y needs to remain a family event, but they sure did slow down foot traffic. Too bad festivals can’t designate a “stroller lane” kind of like some streets have bike lanes, to get them out of everyone’s way.
Got some good info at some of the booths, and I’ll probably mention a couple of the organizations here in weeks to come. Talked to a group that helps the homeless, and I plan to follow up with them to brainstorm ways to funnel some of the misdirected generosity Downtown (giving money to panhandlers) to their organization and others like them. Also talked to a group that had a good message about fighting crime. Once I put on the sticker showing support for my mayoral candidate, candidates for other races came out of the woodwork wanting to talk. I took their literature and will look it over.
In addition to the BBQ nachos, I had an Athenian gyro sandwich (gotta have at least one every year). Crepe Maker also had a booth at the festival, and I recommended it to a lot of people, but didn’t eat there myself, since I can walk four blocks from my front door Downtown and get a “creep” (to use a Mikeyism) anytime I want.
Pie in the Sky Pizza is back, now calling themselves “Lou’s Pizza Pie.” They’re the ones who have specialty pizzas like the Moon Pie, Sun Pie, and Bluto’s Revenge. They had a Downtown location at Front and Gayoso for a while but it closed. They’re now at 2158 Young and you can view their website here.
Total money spent this year at the festival: $8 for the first two PBRs, $1.30 for the third, $6 for the gyro, $7 for the nachos, $1.50 for a Mountain Dew from the convenience store, $1.50 for an orangeade from the convenience store. $25.30 – not too bad. Usually I drop at least 40 bucks there. Didn’t buy anything from the vendors this year.
And now it’s Sunday. Brunch at McGuinness, then on to the Saucer. Back tomorrow with mayoral pick.