Posts Tagged ‘fort worth tourism’

In the spring and summer months, carnivals sometimes set up in shopping centers in various zones in the city. This latter-day descendant of the Travelling Circus or camp meeting draws attention with its towering ferris wheel and, at night, bright lights. The other day we drove past one in the Ridgelea Mall Parking lot, and the kids insisted on checking it out. “I’m not taking you now,” I said, “but we can find out how long they’ll be here.”

It turned out to be opening at 6 p.m. through tonight, Sunday. The kids asked if we could come back. I thought it over and decided we could, on Saturday. I thought they might forget and I would be off the hook, but by no means. They counted off the days. “We’re going to the carnival in three days … two days … one and a half days … tonight.”

By the time we got dinner finished and the dishes washed, it was 9:30. For normal activities, this would be a problem, but the carnival is open ’till at least midnight, we could still go at this late hour, as long as the kids were still awake … and believe me they were.

We arrived in the sea of lights at just 10 p.m. The ferris wheel was spinning, the Kamakaze was spinning cars of people upside down, the flags on its crown pointing down as the cars on the bottom flew up, the Scrambler was scrambling, loud rock music blared, carnival barkers tried to get our attention for the games of chance and skill. The spectacle of it all was intense as we walked the circle of attractions and checked out the Space Ship 2000, the Haunted House, the Hall of Mirrors … the kids drank it in, skipping along.

Rides were not cheap, ranging from 3 to 5 tickets (24 tickets for $20). Angelo first tried the mini trains (evidently going on the TRE the day before did not satiate his train fixation) and Brand and Joanna went on the Space Ship, which is a sort of human centrefuge which gets people dizzy so they stumble as they get off.

Screaming, lights, loud music, the smell of fried and sugared food — we don’t do this every day, but when we do, it’s such a thrill. You can see why the kids wouldn’t forget to remind me to come out here.

I chose only one ride — my old favorite, the Scrambler. I got on and it spun around and around and I laughed and laughed. It reminds me of riding a running horse, actually, that rushing rhythm is like a gallop to me. It’s delicious, really, there’s no other way to explain it.

At the end of the evening (which due to the shortness of funds lasts only about an hour) Brand and Joanna flipped a coin for the last extra ticket, Brand so he could ride the Kamakaze and Jo so she could ride the Ferris Wheel. Brand won, and Jo cried. He considered giving her the ticket, but decided going on the ride is too important. He walked up the ramp, and was strapped into the cage behind four giggling teenage girls in tank tops just a couple years older than him. He held on. The cages began to swing back and forth, rising higher and higher until they hovered upside down and then came flying back to earth. I watched, heart in my throat. What else could I do? When he got off, he was all smiles. He made it. He would not, probably, analogize the experience with riding a running horse, something which he has never done, but he knows it was something transcendent.

When we leave, Angelo cries, partly because he doesn’t want to leave and partly because it’s 11 o’clock and far past his bedtime. We should all be at home now. The music blares and the rides hum in the background as we walk back into the night. I reflect that the carnival was worth it, at least once a year, for that moment of some kind of magic within a mundane summer.

The kids pose by the TRE train outside Dallas Union Station

My youngest son loves trains, so recently when we took him on the Trinity Park Mini train, he didn’t think it was enough. He wanted to go on a REAL train. So I decided we would go on the Trinity Railway Express (TRE), just for the fun of it. We set a day — yesterday — packed a lunch, and set off with his brother (12) and sister (9). It would be a far more meaningful trip than I initially expected.

Taking the TRE to Dallas could hardly be easier, or cheaper. You go to the T&P Park and Ride station on the Downtown side of Lancaster Blvd. very close to where the I30 crosses the 35W freeway. Do not go to the main station, called the “Intermodal Center,” because there is no free parking there. Get your all-day ticket for $5 (children $1.50) which gets you on not only the TRE but the DART trains (and buses) in Dallas. Now sit back, probably on a double-decker passenger car, and enjoy the ride.

We ate lunch in the ornate courtyard of the Trammel Crowe building, which was beautiful and serene.

My youngest son loved it, as did his older brother and sister. Of course, once we got to Dallas, we had to do something to justify the effort of going out there. I wanted to take them to the Dallas World Aquarium but it was too expensive. So I went for the high value/low admission price route: museums. We visited the Crowe Museum of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Crowe Museum was all right, but the Nasher was the prize of the day. Finally, after years of taking kids to art museums and having them not “get it”, the kids began to actually participate in the experience. Part of the thrill was the garden setting of much of the art, and the lowering of the tension surrounding getting too close. Most pieces are still off limits to touch, but it’s much more on the honor system than in, say, the Kimbell, which has the jumpiest guards I’ve ever seen.

Much of the kids’ enjoyment seemed to be the puzzle aspect of the art, which was “modern and contemporary” (that means, generally, that it was created in the last 100 years.) They wanted to know what the artists were thinking, what they meant when the built the art, and what it represented. We spent a long time going from statue to statue, talking about them.

Brand very much liked this "Quantum Cloud XX (tornado)" sculpture by Antony Gormley. The statue is constructed entirely of small steel bars, and looked at from the front, without shadow, the man inside can be difficult to make out.

After finishing with the Nasher, we went on the the Dallas Museum of Art, though were were pretty tired by that time. If my husband had been there he would have insisted, probably, that we stay until midnight (the museum was apparently having some special event that allowed visitors that late) but we satisfied ourselves with a visit to the interactive room where the kids were provided with art supplies and told to create their own “works.”

kids enjoyed creating their own works in the Dallas Musuem of Art's creativity room.

We stayed in this place for a long time. The materials offered were tape, sea shells, cardboard, gold foil paper, and pipe cleaners. Before you say “this is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard of” let me tell you the kids found it very meaningful, and Angelo spent the entire time building a Japanese Spider Crab, he said, out of the pipe cleaners and gold paper, with mini-sea shells for eyes.

I eventually had to drag them out of there because we were going to miss the train we were planning on catching.

As we rode the DART light right to Union Station in Dallas to catch the TRE back home, I noticed we were passing Deally Plaza where the Kennedy Assassination occured, and 6th Floor museum … and we hadn’t even stopped! Clearly, another visit to Dallas was called for.

Reflecting on all this now, the time we spent in Dallas seems magical. I felt for once that I was not alone in the community, that I was part of a greater group of people, which included not just my children, and my region, but my world — and they weren’t all different, they were united through this common world of what I think used to be called “the sublime,” but which I have termed, more often, “the world of ideas” or “the life of the soul.” We came, we saw, we shared in some kind of discourse. For one day, fear and worry were banished, and all I thought about was ideas and creativity. What a great moment.

From a press release by Entertainment and Sports International:

A midway will be set up outside the Fort Worth Cats stadium on July 3rd 2009

Fort Worth, TX — Fort Worth Cats baseball fans may want to come early to stop by the Principal Financial Group Family Fun Fest at LaGrave Field on July 3, 2009 when the Fort Worth Cats take on the Pensacola Pelicans. The Principal Financial Group Family Fun Fest is an unparalleled, and completely free, celebration of baseball visiting nearly 50 minorleague baseball ballparks all across the country during its sixth season.Created and produced by Entertainment & Sports International (ESI), the 4000square foot Principal Financial Group Family Fun Fest will be set-up just outside the main gates and will be open for fans at 4:05PM. For the sixth consecutive year, the Principal Financial Group will serve as exclusive title sponsor of this unique entertainment experience.

Baseball legend and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan returns as national spokesperson. The minor leagues offer fans a great baseball experience, said Ryan. From exceptional value to a safe, family environment, fans get to see competitive professional baseball with non-stop entertainment. The Principal Financial Group FamilyFun Fest extends that excitement before the game with an event truly unique to minor league ballparks.

Started in 2004, the tour has already been visited by more than 1.5 million fans at over 250 appearances. Open three hours before the game and set up right outside the main stadium gates, the event is free to all fans and features more than 20 baseball themed attractions,including:

• A minor league baseball museum.
• A state of the art Great Clips Best Buy Mobile Video Game Arcade with the latest baseball and family games.
• Free souvenir personalized baseball cards sponsored by Days Inn.
• Free Sports Illustrated Kids personalized magazine covers.
• A midway with batting and pitching cages, giant slides, bounce houses, bungee runs.
• A special Rookie Zone for younger fans.

There has never been more pressure on families to stretch their entertainment dollar, said ESI co-founder Joe Owens. With historically low ticket and concession prices, a family of four can go to a minor league baseball game with great food and merchandise for under 50 bucks. Add to that the completely free Family Fun Fest and you have unmatched and unprecedented entertainment value. We believe minor league baseball will continue to deliver record-breaking attendance figures in 2009.

The game isscheduled to begin at 7:05PM and game tickets are available by visiting fwcats.com.

FORT WORTH – Colored lights will illuminate the night sky during a festive block party June 25 when the Avenue of Light on Lancaster Avenue is turned on for the first time.

Avenue of Light, a public art project, consists of six stainless steel sculptures that incorporate energy-efficient LED lights and tower 36 feet high. They’ve been installed along the median from Lamar Street to Main/Commerce Street.

The public is invited to this free party. Speakers will include Mayor Mike Moncrief, Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Hicks, Council Member Joel Burns and the artist, Cliff Garten.

The event begins at 8:30 p.m. at the northeast corner of Lancaster Avenue and Throckmorton Street, where light refreshments will be served. The program starts at 9:00 p.m. with remarks. The sculptures will then become a “canvas” for a color light program lasting about 30 minutes and created especially for the occasion.

Lancaster Avenue will be closed to traffic 8-10 p.m. from Throckmorton to Houston streets. Parking is available two blocks north at the new Fort Worth Convention Center Parking Garage.

The City of Fort Worth’s public art program commissioned Avenue of Light as part of Lancaster Avenue’s reconstruction. The sculptures’ contemporary design was inspired by the nearby Texas & Pacific Terminal’s Art Deco architectural details.

Lancaster Avenue’s reconstruction is a catalyst for future economic development along the corridor. Median landscaping will be part of a future phase of the project.

Avenue of Light will be illuminated nightly from dusk to dawn beginning June 26.

The Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County administers the city’s public art program. Fort Worth Public Art creates an enhanced visual environment for Fort Worth residents, commemorates the city’s rich cultural and ethnic diversity, integrates the design work of artists into the development of the City’s capital infrastructure improvements, and promotes tourism and economic vitality in the city through the artistic design of public spaces. For more information visit www.fwpublicart.org.

From a press release by the City

FORT WORTH - Pink lights will illuminate the night sky Saturday, May 30, on Lancaster Avenue as the City of Fort Worth shows its support for Amy Mickelson and the thousands diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the United States.

The 36-foot stainless steel sculptures known as Avenue of Light, a public art project, will shine pink in concert with the “Pink Out” at the Crown Plaza Invitational golf tournament at Colonial Country Club.

Phil Mickelson was scheduled to defend his title at this year’s tournament. He suspended his touring schedule indefinitely after his wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Tournament players, their wives and caddies will wear pink on Saturday to help promote awareness for breast cancer research.

Fans are encouraged to go “pink” as well.

“Showing our support for Phil and Amy as well as the thousands of families in America affected by this terrible disease is the Fort Worth way,” said Mayor Mike Moncrief. “We encourage Fort Worth residents to pray for Amy’s speedy recovery and that researchers will find a cure for breast cancer.”

The pink clothing will be the most visible sign of support, and fans will be able to donate to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Donors giving at least $5 will receive a pink breast cancer pin at the main entrances and concession stands at Colonial.
In addition to the “Pink Out”, fans can sign a banner of support at the par-3 13th hole on the Colonial course. The banner will be sent to the Mickelsons.

The City of Fort Worth’s public art program commissioned Avenue of Light as part of Lancaster Avenue’s reconstruction. The sculptures’ contemporary design was inspired by the nearby Texas & Pacific Terminal’s Art Deco architectural details. It will be illuminated nightly beginning June 25.

If you haven’t seen the Fort Worth Herd of longhorns walk and trot its way down Exchange street, followed by cowboys in traditional dress, you probably should.  And if you want to get more involved, the Herd’s ten year anniversary will offer a couple of chances. The City will be celebrating by inviting horse owners to ride along, while others are invited to a fundraising dinner.  The press release:

FORT WORTH – The world’s only twice-daily cattle drive is celebrating 10 years with a special opportunity for residents to become a part of the action that draws locals and tourists alike to the historic Stockyards for a rich western heritage experience.

Guests can bring a horse and join The Herd’s genuine cowhands at 11:30 a.m. June 13 as they drive the Longhorns along the Trinity River and east on Exchange Avenue. This year, a 16th steer is being added to The Herd to commemorate the anniversary. Registration to ride in this special cattle drive is $75 and benefits The Outriders of The Fort Worth Herd, a non-profit organization that provides volunteer and financial assistance.

If you prefer to just watch the action, show The Herd your support by attending an anniversary dinner and auction fundraiser at 6 p.m. June 12 at River Ranch, 500 NE 23rd St. Tickets are $100. For more information about the Fort Worth Herd 10th Anniversary Celebration or to reserve your tickets, call 817-336-4373 or e-mail TheHerd (at) FortWorthGov.org.

The Fort Worth Herd was established in 1999 by the City of Fort Worth to celebrate its 150th anniversary and serve as ambassadors for the city. Since its inaugural cattle drive in 1999, the Fort Worth Herd has become the single most recognizable symbol of Fort Worth’s rich western background. Driven twice daily down East Exchange Avenue by genuine cowhands, the Fort Worth Herd offers spectators around the world an authentic glimpse into history.

“In its first 10 years, the Fort Worth Herd has introduced our city’s history and attractions to millions around the world,” says Judge Steve M. King, president of The Outriders. “They have far surpassed our expectations when we started the program in 1999 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Fort Worth’s founding.”

To learn more, visit www.fortworthherd.com.

Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie
Fort Worth Opera, May, 2, 9 2009
Bass Performance Hall
Review by Dean Cassella

The Fort Opera Festival’s current production of Dead Man Walking, a relatively new (2006) work, has everything that one could hope for in an opera performance except one. The libretto, based on the memoir of a nun, Sister Helen Prejean, who counseled Patrick Sonnier (Joseph De Rocher in the opera), an inmate placed on death row for the brutal rape and murder of a teenage girl and her boyfriend, is riveting and thought-provoking.

Composer Jake Heggie has a profound gift for orchestration, made evident from the first bars of the prelude. The sets perfectly capture the bleak and somber atmosphere called for by the subject. The singers and musicians delivered a powerful, resonant performance worthy of the best halls in North America.

What is missing is melody.

Although I try not to be close-minded about these things, I do tend to approach new operas with a bit of suspicion. We are, for all intents and purposes, still living in the post-Wagnerian world when it comes to opera, and the last serious exemplar of tonal melody (who was himself half-Wagnerian) was Puccini. I actually love Wagner’s works, but I am one of those who believe that the great master set opera down a path that eventually stripped away the medium’s most enduring qualities, qualities at which Wagner himself excelled, despite his (often spectacularly successful) innovations.

Dead Man Walking narrates the last few weeks in the life of a man condemned to die by lethal injection in a Louisiana prison. Amidst the ordeal of his final appeal and last meetings with his mother and brothers, he develops a relationship with a nun who wrote letters to him, presumably under the Christian injunction to comfort those in prison. Through his relationship with Sister Prejean, he eventually comes to accept responsibility for his crime. The final scene—his execution—is performed in absolute silence as he is strapped to a table and hooked up to a machine that administers the poison. The humming of the machine is harrowing, as was the reenactment of the rape in murder at the beginning of Act I.

The melodies throughout are almost entirely dissonant (but in a mild way) except for a Christian hymn sung by the nun in her first appearance. One could almost think of this music as her leitmotiv—or that of “hope”. Although one could argue that this bleak subject matter calls for such a harmonic treatment, and it does, in fact, work most of the time, I nonetheless believe that the work’s impact would have been greater if the dissonance was balanced by some consonance. Rigoletto, after all, deals with some very dark and seedy subject matter, and even has its own version of De Rocher in the person of Sparafucile. Yet that work contains some of the most powerful song in the whole standard repertoire. Another interesting point of comparison is Carmen, the work which began this season’s Fort Worth Festival. As was pointed out in the program, Carmen caused some problems for its original audience because such unsavory characters were singing such beautiful melodies. In Dead Man Walking, scenes which included De Rocher’s mother, either pleading to the parole board to spare her son’s life, or bidding goodbye to him just before he was escorted to the death chamber, were crying out for even a touch of the sentimentality that made opera the art form that it is. Had Heggie used song-like melody, the impact of De Rocher’s execution would have been three-fold.

Bass Baritone Daniel Okulitch, most recently seen locally in the lead role in Dallas Opera’s Marriage of Figaro last fall, gave an outstanding performance as De Rocher, and his loud, edgy voice captured the character perfectly. He also gave a partial reprise of his recent nude scene in Paris/L.A’s The Fly although this time he only strips down to his tighty whities. But the loss of genitalia shock value is made up for by the large number of tattoos Okulitch sports for the role. So far as I can tell, the operatic  ”naked thing” got its start in the late 80’s with Sir Peter Hall casting his wife, Maria Ewing, in the title role of Strauss’ Salome, wherein she takes it all off during the Dance of the Seven Veils, something that has of late seemed almost de rigeur.

Speaking of nudity, the Fort Worth Opera website gave one of those “nudity and mature themes” warnings that usually turns out to be a type of lurid promotion. This was not the case here, because the proviso referred not to Okulitch, but rather to the rape/murder at the beginning of Act I. Although the stage was so dark that it was hard to tell just how much covering the actors had, it was disturbing, if only because the simulation was being done with live people, rather than filtered through a projector lens or monitor. In any case, there was nothing erotic about it (unless you are as depraved as De Rocher).

Prima donna Robin Redmon played the role of Sister Prejean in a very prosaic, low-key way that makes sense, given the character. Her powerful, lovely singing, however, was anything but prosaic.

In conclusion, I believe that Dead Man Walking is a worthwhile experiment, and certainly was worth the time and effort to see. I would encourage others to give it a chance in future productions. Attending the show with me was someone who has active interest in classical music, but relatively little sympathy for modern composition. Despite her initial reservations, she found the production well worth seeing.

But I still wonder if I will ever get to see a new opera in my lifetime that embraces, rather than avoids, soaring melody and song.

Cinderella
by Gioacchino Rossini
Fort Worth Opera

Bass Performance Hall, 26 April, 1, 9 May, 2009

Review by Dean Cassella

There is no doubt that Fort Worth Opera’s latest incarnation as a spring festival has come of age and warrants national attention by opera lovers,   and its current version of the Rossini’s classic is one of the finest productions I have had the pleasure of seeing. 

Guest conductor Scott Bergeson’s direction was light, delicate and lively from the opening bars of the overture, and sustained the viewers’ attention through a long (three hour) performance.

A real treat in this production is stage director David Gately’s delightful and often hilarious hijinx that match perfectly (in my opinion) with the spirit of the libretto. This includes a large number of carefully choreographed jokes, the most effective which is the old standby “slow motion” routine at the end of act one (used by FWO at the end of Act I of The Barber of Seville back in 2003). I have no idea where this device originated, but it always does the trick. Here, it is employed in the banquet scene, which includes the dreams of Cinderella’s stepsisters wherein the latter is carved up as part of the festivities.

In keeping with modern, Hollywood-influenced trends, the singers in this production have been carefully chosen to match the age and appearance expectations of current audiences. Although this can sometimes create compromises in vocal quality, this was a non-issue here, as all principals had outstanding voices. Prima donna Isabel Leonard, a petite darling of a thing, captivates with her voice from the first scene, and never lets go. On a few occasions her voice had trouble carrying over the orchestra. But generally she could more than carry her own.

Italian Michele Angelini was a perfect match for Leonard as lead tenor in the role of Prince Ramiro. His voice has that firm yet delicate quality that so well suits the “dreamy young man of marriageable age.” The pair’s voices blended perfectly from their first duet together in Act I.

Rod Nelman, in the buffo-bass role of Don Magnifico, the bumbling and cruel step-father, really came into his own in Act II. He did a brilliant job with the rapid-fire patter that is one of the hallmarks of opera buffa. Also worthy of note was the dashing, flamboyant singing of Andrew Garland as Dandini, the valet-turned-prince-for-a-day that helps to vet out prospective brides for his lord incognito. Brandi Icard and Alissa Anderson also sang well, and demonstrated genuine acting skill as the buffoonish, spoiled sisters who will stop at nothing to marry the prince. Finally, Derrick Parker as Alidoro, the prince’s tutor, was commendable both vocally and acting-wise.

The sets, borrowed from Kentucky Opera, and the costumes, borrowed from San Francisco Opera (and designed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, whose death over 20 years ago has had no effect on his career as a set and costume designer!), were quite beautiful, especially Cinderella’s black and silver ball gown.

For this production, I brought along a boy of 14 who has a modest interest in opera. He really appreciated the humorous and spirited stage direction, in particular the slow-motion dream sequence mentioned above, and Nelman’s boorishness as Don Magnifico.

All in all, signs point to a distinguished future for the Fort Worth Opera Festival. Kudos to Darren Woods and the whole company!

Next up: Dead Man Walking.

FORT WORTH – Fort Worth Opera has been working together with Bass Performance Hall to monitor the risks associated with the H1N1 virus and has announced that the Fort Worth Opera Festival, which opened April 25, 2009 will continue as planned – with a few adjustments.

In an effort to ease concerns over the spread of the H1N1 virus (commonly called the “swine flu”) and to promote public health, Fort Worth Opera is taking the following steps for the remainder of the 2009 Festival Season, which will continue through May 10, 2009:

§         All employees, contractors, volunteers, and ushers will be provided with updated swine flu information per the Center for Disease Control, including tips to prevent the spread of the disease and symptoms.

§         All employees, contractors, volunteers, and ushers have been instructed to stay home if they experience symptoms of the H1N1 virus until they have been cleared by a medical professional to return to work.

§         Employees, contractors, volunteers and ushers working at Fort Worth Opera Festival performances at Bass Performance Hall will be provided hand sanitizer and instructed to use it frequently as well as provide it to customers upon request.

§         Fort Worth Opera is working with Bass Performance Hall, which already has stringent cleaning policies in place, to coordinate additional measures to provide a safe and entertaining environment for patrons attending the Fort Worth Opera Festival.

§         Cough drops will be provided at each performance free of charge.

Ticket holders usually do not attend opera when feeling sick, as the art form is not conducive to coughing or getting up and down due to illness.  However, as an additional precaution, Fort Worth Opera is reminding ticket holders to consult the Center for Disease Control or other reliable source for H1N1 symptom information and requesting that they not attend an opera if they are experiencing any symptoms, no matter how mild. The company has implemented alternative options for ticket buyers who are experiencing symptoms.

Darren K. Woods, General Director of Fort Worth Opera said, “An opera performance is not the same environment as a school, so we are not concerned at this time. As a precaution, we are taking steps to ensure that the environment is as sanitary and safe as possible.”

More information about Fort Worth Opera, the Festival, customer options, and the steps the company is taking to minimize the risk of H1N1 transmission can be found on the company’s website: www.fwopera.org or by calling 817.731.0726.

Schedule of remaining 2009 performances at Bass Performance Hall:

May 10             2 p.m.               Dead Man Walking

More information can be found on the website: www.fwopera.org.

My daughter, son and I decided we simply had to attend the Main Street Arts Fair tonight even though we were a little tired after the long day of doctors visits and rain. Fortunately the weather had cleared up nicely. We arrived and parked, for free, in the garage by Bass Hall right off Sundance Square, and were able to reach Main Street with only two blocks’ walking and an elevator ride.

Main Street is decked out in canvas booths with handmade collectibles and finery.

The arts fair is a fine mixture of genres, styles and mediums. The bulk of what is to be seen is offered in small canvas booths lined along Main Street and its tributaries. You might see, on arriving, hand made jewlery, leatherwork, oil or watercolor paintings, photographey, embellished or not, pottery, woodwork, or glass paperweights.

Pepper grinders by Robert Wilhelm of Raw Design in Portland.

We spent some time looking at the works of Robert Wilhelm, whose Raw Design studio in Portland, Oregon, specializes in hand made pepper grinders. Wilhelm told us he got the idea for making the pepper grinders while doing a restaurant redesign 12 years ago and hasn’t looked back since.

We also got quite a kick out of Geoffry R. Johnson’s booth, where he was playing and selling handmade dulcimers. The dulcimer, Johnson showed us, is far easier to play than the guitar. He gave us a demonstration.

We left after an hour an a half’s brisk walk looking into stalls. We had seen a great deal, and avoided, for pecuniary reasons, the many attractive booths from places like Risky’s Barbecue Pit where smells of roasted and fried foods were causing us to feel like we were starving to death.  We walked back and got into the car.

“I think we forgot to do something.” I told my daughter.

“What?”

“What good is our campaign against Walmart and mass produced commercialism if we don’t even buy some art at the Main Street Arts Fair? I fancy one of those paperweights.” They were gorgeous with suspended webs of spun glass inside, only $30.

She agreed — she thought a pepper grinder would be just the thing –and we’ve made plans to go back tomorrow.