from street fair to street fair

Czech Street Festival, NYC
Yes I am aware that this is a lousy picture.
No I don't know those people.

The Fall Festival in Philadelphia. One of the restaurant tents.

The crowd on S 13th at the Philadelphia street fair

My husband and I are suckers for a good street fair. We'll go to any one and browse (and find the popcorn sample guy). We found two street fairs in Philadelphia. One seemed to only serve cheese steaks. We left. Another, on S 13th and Sansom that I mentioned, was in the shape of a giant plus sign, which was not optimum for crowd flow, and was really just a giant outdoor patio where restaurants put up tents in front of their establishments and served drinks mainly. Here is a blurb about the Philly Fall Festival, with a great graphic.

I think I like the New York Street fairs better. We wandered up to the Czech Street fair on 83rd between Madison and Park on Saturday, which was filled with not unsimilar food to our Polish neighborhood restaurants, and then gradually wandered our way down Lex to pick up still more Click Clack containers at The Container Store on 58th. What we found in between those two points was pretty fabulous, but I will describe more about that later. Here, a gratuitously visual post: my tales of three street fairs in two cities.

The phamous Philly cheese steak.
Yes I was a tourist and took a picture.
So what, I was a tourist.

A flattened Sumo wrestler costume at the Fall Festival, Philadelphia
Inexplicable, yet amusing.

The activated Sumo wrestler costume.
As I was photographing this event, a man asked me
how much it cost and did he have a partner and what was
this thing anyway. I stared back blankly. I don't know.
Oh I thought you knew him, he said. No I don't.
I would have said, no I am a blogger, but I don't
really engage people on the street anymore since I've lived in New York.
Philly is strange. People make eye contact and talk to you there.
I am not used to that anymore.