response 42 of 82:

Jul 13 01:51 UTC 2003

In fairness, while I have long enjoyed sniping at the art fair hype, it's not
at all a bad event, and it's not like local media don't hype other local
events that I actually like.  I still think Ann Arbor gets a bit too much of
an inflated view about itself, but things like Art Fair just don't happen
everywhere.  

And downtown is easy to avoid.  Traffic hangups aren't as bad as football exit
traffic, either, and I don't exactly complain about that. :)  

So what was I saying?  Oh, yeah, all my whining about art fair was unfair.

response 44 of 82:

Jul 14 19:16 UTC 2003

I'll be there.  (But you knew that.)

response 46 of 82:

Jul 15 00:32 UTC 2003

Jan, Valerie, Arlo, and Kendra expect to come.  That's 4ish right there.

response 48 of 82:

Jul 15 01:26 UTC 2003

I'll come for a bit, but I'm going to 7 Samurai at the MT at 630.

response 50 of 82:

Jul 15 18:25 UTC 2003

Rats, I missed the warning about this, and it's too late for me 
this year.

response 52 of 82:

Jul 16 11:26 UTC 2003

I agree.  It was nice to meet your wife too.

Everyone's food looked good.  Even Arlo's grilled cheese.

I was hungry. ;-)

response 54 of 82:

Jul 17 03:11 UTC 2003

Chicken/lamb meatballs were good.  Good also to put a few more faces to names,
although (kip) is another grexer whom i believe i've met before (didn't you
do the OS X lecture for LUGWash last year?).

response 56 of 82:

Jul 17 04:54 UTC 2003

(other) & I had to leave early to make the Seven Samurai showing at 630 at
the MT.  Good movie, if a (eensy) bit long. :)

response 58 of 82:

Jul 18 06:07 UTC 2003

Today I was touring Art Fair with STeve from about 2 until closing.
Grexers sighted:  ea bicycling up behind us on South U, and Rob Argy
over by the spinning cube sculpture while we were having dinner.
 
We mostly concentrated on the Original Street Art Fair in its new
digs around Burton Tower.  My initial reactions to the new site 
are very positive.  It's *spacious* with lots of shady spots, and 
the location should handle Saturday's crowds well.  The absence of 
the merchants -- the new location is entirely? on the UM Campus --
makes it feel more open and less pressured, and I was having flashes
on the Carbondale Mountain Fair in Colorado, held in a city park.  
There is the Neptune Fountain for a new centerpiece; there is the 
Michigan League for air-conditioned retreat; we heard a carillon
concert. 

What did everyone else think?

response 60 of 82:

Jul 18 11:41 UTC 2003

I agree with you, Ken, the new location is better.  It reminds me
of my favorite fair held in State College, PA, home of Penn State.
Their fair is much smaller than ours but with some incredible art.
It's held on a long wide pedestrian way lined  with huge old oak
trees.  Lots of shade, no firepits with sausages or violinists
playing muzak at the limits of their speaker's volume.

Maybe it's age, maybe it's the new larger size, but our fair 
looks tacky to me this year.

response 62 of 82:

Jul 18 14:47 UTC 2003

We liked the new location because there was a place to sit in the shade of
the bell tower in the afternoon.  We sat down next to someone that Jim had
worked with 20 years ago.  It took 20 minutes before they recognized each
other.  Jim pointed out that you can distinguish the tourists from the townies
because the former had perfectly white shoes.  This guy had shoes even dirtier
than Jim's, and a carillon concert program.

response 64 of 82:

Jul 18 17:39 UTC 2003

I wish I could be there. :(