A Taste of Weird

Yesterday, October 11th, 2008, I ventured on my bike to two separate festivals. Baltimore seems to have an endless supply of festivals, sometimes referred to as "Festivitus" or "Festivonomas". This Saturday's festivals were the "Bolton Hill Street Festival" and "A Taste of Waverly" just north of the city.

Bolton Hill really is a beautiful area and has a surprising volume of greenery. I stumbled onto this small party on a sloping street. The weather was clear and the crowd was full-figured with vendors, musicians, and artists. At the top of the block was an Episcopal church where a large garage sale also occupied and freshly brewed tea form the Lady's Auxiliary awaited. My favorite food was "Taco in a bag". Fantastic! They used Frito Lay chip bags and poured in the sauce, cheese, and other veggies right on top to create your taco... in a bag.

After a Clipper's Brewery Amber Ale, I went through Little Korea around Charles and 20th St and on my way to the next festival, "A Taste of Waverly". The Waverly Village is very vague and as far as I could tell... it has a few rough spots right near or in its boundaries. It lies around Greenwood and 32nd St. The whole thing was a little awkward. I was there at the start as people set up in the parking lot next to Papa Johns and 7-Eleven. I kept hoping something more would show, but I waited in vain. About 8 different vendors showed up and one of them was-in fact- Papa Johns. I thought that was kind of sad. The attendant literally went to the store and brought pizzas from there, across the street, and into the booth.

Because I was waiting for the festival to become exciting (balloons in the parking lot were more thrilling), I did some walking around Waverly. I quickly saw that the Middle-Aged pudgy white males at the parking lot were not representative of the low income minority groups that were the Waverly residents that I encountered. As far as I could tell, the people of Waverly, and the people at the Waverly Festival were two distinct groups and I don't think either of them appreciated the other. Personally, I liked the residents... more exciting and flavorful to me.

All in all, Bmore is a hit or miss with its festivals. I was lucky at Bolton Hill and could have done better at Waverly, but it was a beautiful day for a bike ride no matter the outcome. I hope the pictures show up well and if you get the chance to visit... choose Bolton Hill.