The Orange International Street Fair

A sea of humanity wandering through streets lined with international cuisine. That's how I would sum up our experience at the Orange International Street Fair last night. I imagine during the day the fair is less crowded and less drunk but also pretty hot which is why we opted for the late arrival time. I anticipated drunk, but the crowds were unbelievable. The line for a gyro (very reasonably priced at $5) wrapped around the stand and down the block! Getting past any music stage required expert crowd maneuvering skills and alot of patience. But besides all the people and all the beer, the crowd had a very positive vibe. I shocked to see the element of white trash that I was so used to from my many years of living in Sacramento missing from the free street festival. It was very refreshing. The crowd was mostly young adults but there was a nice mix of older couples and young families thrown in. Judging by the booths I could see that it must be a very family friendly spot during the day. There were lots of children's apparel stands sprinkled amongst the Swiss, German, Norwegian, Greek, Irish, Polynesian, Japanese, Danish, American, Mexican, and English (along with a couple others I probably forgot) stands with tasty treats filling the air with scents from around the world. The food prices were very reasonable and knowing that the money being raised was for charity made me feel especially good about my purchase. The kids had strawberries and cream from the English stand and my mom went with the fish and chips (which were very good). I initially wanted a gyro but the line overwhelmed me so I instead opted from some Greek calamari. Only $5.00 for a large serving of some very tasty squid. I was impressed. I think we will be back next year but probably earlier in the day (providing we aren't in the middle of another heat wave) so we can avoid the masses. Or maybe a Saturday night without the kids so we can join the drunk masses. Either way, I think they have some new fans.

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