Festivals Abound in the 'Hood

I swear, living this new condominium lifestyle has led to nothing but visitors, good times, coffee and lunch out, meeting new neighbors, and festivals. Yesterday was no exception. Our neighborhood hosted its annual Fremont Fest 2008. Every store was open and giving away free gifts, holding drawings, tons of good food, and people, kids, and dogs everywhere. There was a parade which included maybe 200-300 kiddies dressed up like Sponge Bob or Hello Kitty along with pets which clearly didn't admire their tin-foil wings that had been added to their backs for effect. Oh, and the Clydesdale horses gave free rides up and down the street all day long -- which scared the hell out of Mason. It was a fantastic way to welcome us to the Beaumont Wilshire-Fremont area and confirmed to us that we've made a great decision to live in this neighborhood.

After that, we headed back to our old 'hood since we'd been grandfathered in to our former neighbor's annual Rib Fest whereby eight individuals bring their homemade ribs. They are judged and the winner given a throne upon which to sit for the upcoming year. I made my white bean and charred onion salad along with Oregon blackberry shortcake. And of course since there were ribs and meat involved, the evening wouldn't have been complete without plenty of Hehehe jokes surrounding the rubbing of one's meat -- including the obligatory t-shirts. Oh, and did I mention the handsome good-friend-and-bartender making Key Lime Martinis? I swear, these are some of the nicest friends ever to keep us involved in spite of the fact that we ditched their street for another. Next week, we go back to the same great former street for the second annual block party.