Bastille Day 2009

Once I'd gone through the Street Fair I walked on over to Pix Patisserie for the block party celebrating Bastille Day. It's a French holiday celebrating "the storming of the Bastille prison" that happened on July 14th 1789. At the time there were only a few prisoners there, but the Bastille was a symbol of the power of the monarchy, and also contained a large cache of weapons and ammunition; it's fall is said to have been the flash point of the Revolution.

Here are some of the pics...

Mississippi Street Fair 2009

After Plunderathon I drove over to the Mississippi Ave. Street Fair and oh man finding a place to park was a nightmare, I was ready to give up, when I finally found a spot. I must say though that it was totally worth it.



There was at least 5 different BBQ places there, many of the bars had extended their seating areas out into the street, and there was some really great music and interestingly talented buskers to watch all down the street.



I'm pretty sure that a good number of the artists there are also regulars at Last Thursday which is kind of like the hippie version of First Thursday, ok I shouldn't so it's "like" that because it really IS. At First you tour the Galleries and enjoy wine & music, Last is a street fair, with eclectic music, and that art ranges from the horrendous to the crafty to the exceptionally wonderful, and you dealing directly with the artist or crafty individual that made it.

Getting back to the event, there was a junker that people paid money to paint, and doesn't it look lovely...



Oh, and Voodoo Doughnut was also present though at the time I was there they were all sold out, it was very sad.



When I came to the end of the fair something caught my eye...



What the heck is a Dutch Taco/waffle sandwich like? So I headed over to take a look, I found out that they can be either savory or sweet, and decided to try the S'mores Taco. It is a relativity thin waffle with Nutella seared on it, filled with marshmallow creme, and served hot so it's all wonderfully melty.

Plunderathon 2009

Now that I'm mostly recovered from walking all over town (really felt like it at the time) I took the time to get my pictures uploaded...

First up was Plunterathon, and I gotta say it was interesting walking up to the Skidmore Fountain and seeing it pretty much surrounded by pirates.











There were some really great costumes though, and they were promoting the Portland Pirate Festival that's on September 19th & 20th in Cathedral Park.



















Ok I don't know if you can really see it but this lady was wearing a steel under bust corset, I don't know how she was able to breathe.












I'm calling this lady the Pirate Queen, and I give her big props for putting on the wig, not to mention the armature that's gotta be under that dress.


They even brought an inflate-a-pirate.

I had planned to follow them for a bit but the smells from the Saturday Market food vendors was calling to me. They were all still milling around at the time and I thought that it'd only take me a few minutes and I could catch up to them if needed, I mean you can't really miss about a hundred pirates going by.



Unfortunately they must have gone the other direction from what I thought they would, and so I lost them. It was pretty disappointing I'd really wanted to see them put people in the stocks and I've not seen a flogging before.