Just in my immediate area I could go to (when they’re being held that is):
A peach festival, a garlic festival, a chocolate festival, the state fair which is like a giant stereotype all of its own, an apricot festival, a Sturgis satellite thing, classic car festival and tribute to American Graffiti fucking up traffic downtown, and so many more I haven’t personally been to or even heard of, I’m sure.
We celebrate everything because then we have an excuse to party.
Are all the fests now just corporate greed and overpriced subpar options of the normal thing?
They are here at least. Poutine fest…ugh…like $16 for a medium and anywhere else is like $6-$9 outside of the fest.
Ribfest…holy crap, 1 beef rib. They wanted $20 for ONE RIB. not a rack, literally a single rib. Sauce is paintbrushes on after so it never gets caramelized. Overall garbage.
The fests I’ve been to have been overpriced but that’s mostly because they’re food truck pricing. They aren’t so much corporate as they’re organized by the city, or a non profit, and so on. Like, imagine an organization that promotes Asian cultures having a Asian food fest.
Long ago, my wife was a waitress at a mom and pop restaurant that once participated in the other end of a community event and they sold it about the same as usual, but had a limited menu for things that could be cooked in portably. Great food, but we’re talking 16 bucks for fries covered in Okinawan pork belly prepped in advance.
The better prices I mentioned for the poutine are from chiptrucks. I don’t ever get poutine at a restaurant. It’s always grated cheese and not real squeeky curd.
The chocolate one, maybe? I don’t remember who owns the factory in Oakdale and I haven’t been in a few years anyway. And the state fair is fairly commercialized. The rest of the food festivals are all pretty much just local events with not a corporate sponsor in sight.
I go to Wurstfest almost every year. I couldn’t make it this year for personal reasons. I just love the fact that there’s a whole festival about sausages. That’s it. There’s also plenty of beer, dancing, and music but mostly they just want you to put their sausage in your mouth.
The city I grew up in is home to the “world’s largest” Bratfest. The sell close to 300k brats every year (and it’s hosted in a city with a population of about 280k!)
Wisconsin gets fucking serious about their German sausages. There’s a joint down from y’all’s state capital that used to serve a pretty good cheddarwurst but it’s been a few years since I’ve been.
Just in my immediate area I could go to (when they’re being held that is):
A peach festival, a garlic festival, a chocolate festival, the state fair which is like a giant stereotype all of its own, an apricot festival, a Sturgis satellite thing, classic car festival and tribute to American Graffiti fucking up traffic downtown, and so many more I haven’t personally been to or even heard of, I’m sure.
We celebrate everything because then we have an excuse to party.
Are all the fests now just corporate greed and overpriced subpar options of the normal thing?
They are here at least. Poutine fest…ugh…like $16 for a medium and anywhere else is like $6-$9 outside of the fest.
Ribfest…holy crap, 1 beef rib. They wanted $20 for ONE RIB. not a rack, literally a single rib. Sauce is paintbrushes on after so it never gets caramelized. Overall garbage.
The fests I’ve been to have been overpriced but that’s mostly because they’re food truck pricing. They aren’t so much corporate as they’re organized by the city, or a non profit, and so on. Like, imagine an organization that promotes Asian cultures having a Asian food fest.
Long ago, my wife was a waitress at a mom and pop restaurant that once participated in the other end of a community event and they sold it about the same as usual, but had a limited menu for things that could be cooked in portably. Great food, but we’re talking 16 bucks for fries covered in Okinawan pork belly prepped in advance.
The better prices I mentioned for the poutine are from chiptrucks. I don’t ever get poutine at a restaurant. It’s always grated cheese and not real squeeky curd.
I mean, that seems about normal for beef ribs. One rib is a whole meal, the BBQ place near me calls them “Dino Ribs”. The sauce thing is crazy though.
The chocolate one, maybe? I don’t remember who owns the factory in Oakdale and I haven’t been in a few years anyway. And the state fair is fairly commercialized. The rest of the food festivals are all pretty much just local events with not a corporate sponsor in sight.
That’s what’s great about Germans, they don’t even look for a reason to have a festival.
I go to Wurstfest almost every year. I couldn’t make it this year for personal reasons. I just love the fact that there’s a whole festival about sausages. That’s it. There’s also plenty of beer, dancing, and music but mostly they just want you to put their sausage in your mouth.
The city I grew up in is home to the “world’s largest” Bratfest. The sell close to 300k brats every year (and it’s hosted in a city with a population of about 280k!)
Wisconsin gets fucking serious about their German sausages. There’s a joint down from y’all’s state capital that used to serve a pretty good cheddarwurst but it’s been a few years since I’ve been.