Its that time of the year again, fair season! We just went to the annual Old World Festival of Cleveland. Does it not bring to mind images of knights, jousts and damsels in distress, sort of Renaissance Fair-ish in name. Well, forget about all of that. Where we live, it translates to a street fair. It may not be much but it was fun. Here are the highlights: Fried Food ~ Love, love, love it! Started off with a deep fried bloomin' onion with southwest dressing (ok, so it was really ranch with a tad of ketchup to make it pinkish, its a street fair not Tav
ern on the Green!). We took care of the vegetable group of the food pyramid so we're set. Off then we went to partake of some protein! Corn dogs! Nice golden brown color, crispy outer shell and a bit of a chewy inner layer then finally the hotdog which was a tad pale but overall a 7 out of a 10. Then, my absolute favorite, funnel cake! A little bit of heaven found in fried dough.
Fashion Faux Pas ~ Oh where do I begin! Its like shooting fish in a barrel. Its too easy. But why pass it up. So, Cleveland isn't exactly the fashion capital of the world, nor of Ohio for that matter, as if I needed to tell you that. But I think there is a valuable trait we've either misplaced or never developed at all, I'd call it self-awareness. My goodness, women have everything and I-MEAN-EVERYTHING hanging out! Outfits are either plunging down to one's navel or creeping up again to one's navel. Hey, sexy is good as long as its tasteful, but if its all out there for the world to see, I beg you, please leave something to the imagination. Maybe it'll make me feel a bit better if I got damages for pain and suffering. Some of the images just sears into your eyeballs! It was like a real live version of TLC's What Not To Wear (one of the best shows on TV along with Rescue Me - if you like watching Denis Leary play a chain-smoking-alcoholic-Irish-firefighter which is a stretch, I know) but without the makeover or reveal at the end. It was painful but inifinitely entertaining.
Whatever Floats Your Boat ~ We live in a fairly diverse neighborhood.
Lots of Eastern European retirees (Slovaks, Polish, Hungarian, etc.) and young black families. A real estate agent would call our area "eclectic" or "up and coming", which if you read between the lines does not translate to Greenwich, CT. It was fascinating to explore the fair grounds. At one end was a fairly large, open air stage that featured Polka Bands, I'm not even sure if "Band" is the right term. It seemed like all of our seniors came out to party. There was even a dance floor where a couple of Babickas (Slovak for grandmother), were tearing it up, complete with pompoms. For the younger crowd, there was a lot of posing and vogueing (albeit trying to be subtle about it), which is related to highlight #2 Fashion Faux Pas.
The Local Politicos ~ Another source of entertainment, whether its fa
ir season or not, are the local politicians. If you don't know who your local representatives are by sight, just be on the lookout for a flock of unifor
med officers, trying to act nonchalant, surrounding a guy with either a beard, moustache, huge pinky ring or any combination of the three. On the right is a photo of State Rep. Kenny Yuko, who was the bearded guy surrounded by police at the Old World Festival, at a photo op with another moustached politico but from out of state. Mr. Yuko did not stray far from his entourage or from the mobile unit (photo on left) which had a mounted camera, to ensure that ordinary rifraf such as myself, would stay the required distance, as it is not an election year.
An afternoon at the Old World Festival is one well spent. I know I haven't even touched upon the interesting carnies or the rides put together MacGyver-style with duct tape and paperclips, but there is only so much fair stuff one can take in a single blog, so we'll take up where we left off...next year.