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Friday Slide Show: Street Fair
8 June 2018
Last Sunday it was Union Street's turn to host one of the many street fairs held in various neighborhoods around town. It was a gorgeous day (if a little windy) so we took the bus over to see what was cooking.
Barbecue, that's what was cooking. And lots of it. Which was smart because the lines for food were long. Among the favorites we spied were the huge smoked turkey legs that seemed to come from a farm in Jurassic Park.
But you could also get a hamburger, hot dog, chicken kabob, tri-tip sandwich, oysters, garlic fries and more. Just as long as it was barbecued (fries excepted).
Keg technology seems to have advanced significantly, too. The taps are built into the trucks now and some poor soul sits inside the trailer rolling fresh kegs up to the wall, connecting them to the wall and hoisting hefty bags of ice on top of them to keep the beer cold.
The alcohol-consumption sections were cordoned off either to keep children out or the adults penned in. And just to be safe, the electric car test drive booth gave everyone a Breathalizer test before inviting them to sit behind the wheel.
The other very big attraction was the music.
At several intersections there was a band playing extremely loud music. On the hill leading down to one intersection, the asphalt had been covered with artificial grass so patrons could sit down to enjoy the music.
There was also a children's section with various rides including a small electric train that seemed to run non-stop.
Less spectacular, oddly, were the booths themselves. And there weren't a lot of them, either. It made us wonder if the end of the street fair era were not already upon us. With no vendors, it's just food and music.
But there were a few vendors. Hats, jewelry, blow-up furniture, electric cars, candles, home decorations. Oh, and that last shot is of solar-powered hummingbirds. But not a single photographer put up a booth.
We took a variety of shots with our favorite street camera setup: the Olympus E-PL1 and its 14-42mm kit lens. But we had a lot of work to do in Lightroom CC to recover the highlights and get some detail in the shadows of these very contrasty images.
But, frankly, working on these made us hungry. So we cut it short and went to lunch.
