Monroe Avenue Fest (but it will always be the Bardog alley party to me) 2015

Bardog Tavern celebrated its 7th birthday in style, throwing a huge block-long party in conjunction with a few of its neighbors, the celebration renamed Monroe Fest.

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My friends at Gossett Porsche stepped up and sponsored.

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VIP area with tastings from area restaurants including Felicia Suzanne’s.

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Pete and John D

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You never know what you’ll find at the alley party… er, block party… er, Monroe Fest. I am never going to get used to calling it that.

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Dunk a hot dog, 4 balls for $3.

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One of the prizes in the raffle

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The band

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Lauren raising money for the head shaving

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Some people walked out of Monroe Fest with a new pet

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Chef Gary Williams of DeJaVu

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Shenanigans

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Panda

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Members of the Downtown crew

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DJ Lil’ Egg Roll

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Backey has his war paint on for the meatball eating contest.

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We finally figured out a way to make Marc be quiet: Feed him meatballs.

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Brad Pee has a great shirt on.

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Uncle Ray

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Aldo conducting the raffle

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Buddha

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Lauren and her lovely assistant raising money for St. Jude

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Crazy Joe and Charles the poker/trivia guy

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People hide from me.

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Bloom

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“Shave the Ninja” begins. I believe this is the first time a head-shaving victim has cut their own hair.

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Previous head-shaving victims have cried. Lauren, on the other hand, smiled all the way through.

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What a fabulous party. Thank you Aldo for giving us such a wonderful place to hang out the past 7 years. I have had happy times, weird times, sad times, hilarious times at Bardog but I am so grateful that the places is there. It is one of my homes away from home. Thank you to all who raised money for St. Jude yesterday. Complete photo album here.