Ethnic Festival
Today is the 23rd Edition of Afram, held every Memorial Day weekend in Norfolk down on the river between Norfolk and Portsmouth. Busy day. Across the river in Portsmouth was a re-enactment of some war episode. Once in a while you could hear cannon and rifles going off.
Norfolk Festivities began with a parade. Band after band after band. When I was a kid in the school's marching band, we played John Phillip Sousa and we just marched straight down the street. Nowadays band music is super jazzy and marchers shake their booty like hoochie girls going around a pole at a strip club. However, somehow it all still has an air of innocence and earnestness. This was a band competition so each band stopped in front of the judging stand. Benny and I pushed through the crowd for ring side seats on the curb. The music was deafening, but fun nevertheless. I think Benny had two favorite parts of the parade; one was the Old Dominion University lion mascot. Benny rushed out into the street to hug the lion. Uh, and his second favorite was a group of young men doing break dances at great risk to their hands on the hot pavement. Benny was impressed.
After the parade we bought tickets and went into the festival venue which is the riverside park. We walked all around and looked at the merchandise. I bought a fabulous outfit. Thank God I didn't have my Visa card. I'd have spent a fortune. The clothes were gorgeous. For lunch we had sweet tea and crab cakes at a tent booth. Oh, yes, and sweet potato fries liberally spiced with hot pepper.
About then the afternoon's music fired up at the bandstand. It began with the Star Spangled Banner, a jazzy rendition courtesy of a Baptist Church's in-house jazz band. Excellent. I right away got jealous. Why doesn't Christ and St. Luke's Episcopal Church have it's own jazz band, too? Whole lot of Vivaldi where I go to church and not enough jazz band! Something wrong with that picture.
Today's big day for African Americans in Norfolk, Virginia, was the kind of thing that everyone could and did enjoy. The smell of wonderful food; catfish, corn on the cob, shrimp, greens, mac and cheese, chicken, crab cakes, sweet tea. Happy music. Easy manners. We had a great time. I regret one thing. As we left, I noticed a vendor of very tall wooden giraffes. Baby Sadie loved them. Darn. If I'd had my Visa card, we could have brought those giraffes home with us.
Norfolk Festivities began with a parade. Band after band after band. When I was a kid in the school's marching band, we played John Phillip Sousa and we just marched straight down the street. Nowadays band music is super jazzy and marchers shake their booty like hoochie girls going around a pole at a strip club. However, somehow it all still has an air of innocence and earnestness. This was a band competition so each band stopped in front of the judging stand. Benny and I pushed through the crowd for ring side seats on the curb. The music was deafening, but fun nevertheless. I think Benny had two favorite parts of the parade; one was the Old Dominion University lion mascot. Benny rushed out into the street to hug the lion. Uh, and his second favorite was a group of young men doing break dances at great risk to their hands on the hot pavement. Benny was impressed.
After the parade we bought tickets and went into the festival venue which is the riverside park. We walked all around and looked at the merchandise. I bought a fabulous outfit. Thank God I didn't have my Visa card. I'd have spent a fortune. The clothes were gorgeous. For lunch we had sweet tea and crab cakes at a tent booth. Oh, yes, and sweet potato fries liberally spiced with hot pepper.
About then the afternoon's music fired up at the bandstand. It began with the Star Spangled Banner, a jazzy rendition courtesy of a Baptist Church's in-house jazz band. Excellent. I right away got jealous. Why doesn't Christ and St. Luke's Episcopal Church have it's own jazz band, too? Whole lot of Vivaldi where I go to church and not enough jazz band! Something wrong with that picture.
Today's big day for African Americans in Norfolk, Virginia, was the kind of thing that everyone could and did enjoy. The smell of wonderful food; catfish, corn on the cob, shrimp, greens, mac and cheese, chicken, crab cakes, sweet tea. Happy music. Easy manners. We had a great time. I regret one thing. As we left, I noticed a vendor of very tall wooden giraffes. Baby Sadie loved them. Darn. If I'd had my Visa card, we could have brought those giraffes home with us.
2 Comments:
Hey, dinner last night was good. Benny even tried the green bean situation. Dan particularly liked the biscuits. And Sadie mostly ate the strawberries. ;) :)
I will believe that Benny ate green bean casserole right after I look out the window and watch while little green aliens move in, cut the grass, get a dog, and register their kids for school. The next thing I'll believe right after that will be this story about Benny eating green bean casserole.
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