Fiesta Belmont!
02 Apr 2006Okay, so, we decided to give this “Latin Street Fair” at Belmont a try, yesterday. Yes, you heard right. A Latin street fair. At Belmont. Sponsored by O’Reilly auto-parts. Yeah, uhm, what?
Naturally, I was wary. But being the open-minded lad that I am, we decided to check it out nonetheless. Hoo boy, was I ever vindicated.
First, I am pretty sure the only non-white people I saw were the ones working the 3 or 4 food vendors that were actually there.
Second, all of the other vendors were people trying to sell me crap: Comcast, Sprint, some car insurance company, etc. So, evidently when Belmont says “Latin street fair” what they really mean is “excuse to get vendors to pay us to set up booths to try to sell shit to the suckers that show up”.
The only possible redeeming factor was the music, which wasn’t half bad.
After a few aborted attempts to get through the line to one of the food vendors, with our blood sugar dangerously low, we left and went to eat at PM instead.
That was by far the lamest street festival ever.
Hmmm, looking at the quote “What we honor as prudence in our elders is simply panic in action” explains the post. I guess the opposite of prudence is inaction.
This is an example of perceptual difference. Growing up attending these type of street fairs, I was pleased with the great music, interesting dancing, activities for kids (free), and (although limited) authentic food. You might have notice that admission was free, unlike most street fair in the area. This means the fair needs to have commercial vendors—who pay for the right to advertise and display to this market. Commercial vendors attend in an effort to introduce themselves to Hispanic consumers. The fair is mounted by a Hispanic group and is Hosted by Belmont University.
As usual, it is easier to criticize without doing. 60% in attendance were Latino. The 4-6 food vendors in attendance were local Hispanic families not really situated to deal with a McDonald-like mass food delivery—so most of us politely waited beyond the 2 minute time frame allotted for fast food delivery.
This is the ONLY Latin street fair in the city, it is paid for through donations, and commercial vendors and has expanded each year to meet the needs of a mixed batch of attendees.
I am sure it is easier to criticize, but many of us decide instead to roll up our sleeves and create.