Brat Fest: Let's keep it simple, people

Turns out the World's Largest Brat Fest wasn't quite as large this year: they missed the goal of selling 200,000 brats by quite a bit. As of the 5 o'clock news Monday evening, they hadn't quite reached 150,000, and that was about an hour before the event was closing. I think the lower numbers were due in part to the higher cost of $1.50/brat this year, compared to $1.00/brat in previous years. I really don't think the price increase is that big a deal, considering that proceeds go to charity and that this is the first price increase in 25 years.

More relevant to the apparent decline, in my opinion, is the fact that there's a whole lot more crap now. When Brat Fest was in the Hilldale parking lot (before the Hilldale parking lot became condo-, chain-restaurant-, and parking-ramp-filled), Bratfest was simple: a few too few tables, some loud local bands of questionable quality, and long lines of people anxiously awaiting their brats. Now, there are ferris wheels and much associated carny paraphernalia, a full slate of higher quality local bands, i-pod dancers (to fill the gap in the 'questionable quality entertainment' category), booths of sponsors and their attendant crap, etc., etc., etc. It's just too much and doesn't feel quite right.

Case in point: We attended Brat Fest on Friday evening and gave in to participate in selected carny crap, including a shooting-at-targets-with-water-guns game that resulted in our resident knight winning a horrific purple dog that happened to match his fiance's outfit. A lil' bit funny and a lil' bit freaky and a lil' bit much, similar to the belligerent and possibly drunk carny that bellered, "Yeah, if I were you I would ignore me, too!" as we tried to move past his game.

Despite all of the crap, the essense of the thing remains wonderful: brats and good mustard and good friends. We sat on a blanket on a cool early-summer evening to enjoy our respective sausage products, and it was lovely. Mmmmm!