We consider ourselves proud consumers of our community. In this vein, we often attend street festivals around the area to support local artists and to just be with our fellow Memphians. One of the most popular and well-attended festivals in our city was Saturday and we decided to go. I've lived here for 17 years and it was my first time so I was pretty excited.
Hey, remember that time I got all excited about going to a street festival and then spent 15 minutes in hell trying to escape the crowd?
We parked about 4 blocks away (which was as close as we could get) and walked to the gate. It wasn't a particularly hot day...not for Memphis, anyway, but by the time we got there I was warm and there was already sweat dripping down my back.
I should mention that we went straight there after picking our kids up from swim practice. So they were hungry. Let me rephrase...they were very hungry and in order to stave off the hangriness (hanger?), I made it my mission to get them fed -- or at least watered -- before we ventured too far. Just trying to minimize the whining.
We wandered in the gates at the South end of the main drag and were immediately enveloped by humanity. While desperately clinging to the backs of each other's shirts, we managed to maneuver through the throng in a single file line until we found a place to get bottled water. And then, we started to make our way down the street.
I have a threshold for the number of people I can tolerate in my immediate vicinity. It can be measured in people per square meter and this crowd exceeded that threshold by about 10. There was no walking. Our slow forward movement was more akin to shuffling, bobbing, and weaving as we attempted to avoid people who were walking in the opposite direction directly in our paths. They apparently had the right-of-way -- I mean, they must have because pushing us aside gave them no pause. I was amazed at the people who were perfectly happy to walk 3 or 4 abreast with their companions showing little regard for anyone else who was also trying to move around.
Now, normally at a festival in our city, I love to stroll along the edges admiring the arts and crafts, the photography, and the food that our gifted citizenry have on display. This city is a treasure when it comes to that. Yesterday, there was no edge -- except for the metaphorical one at which I was teetering. There was only careless movement and impatient people with a sense of entitlement about where they wanted to be.
And everyone else was just in their way.
About 5 minutes in, my husband glanced over his shoulder and made eye contact with me...bringing up the rear of our family's single-file line. He mouthed the words, "I'm getting us out of here," and a brief sense of relief washed over me. Just enough for me to relax my shoulders away from my ears and take what I'm pretty sure was my first deep breath since entering the crowd. That's when my heel was clipped from behind by an impatient dad pushing a jogging stroller. When I turned around and smiled so he would know that I was ok...he glared at me as though the collision were my responsibility.
So that was fun.
We finally found an open space to wait while my husband and son went searching for a funnel cake to go. I stood there in the blazing sun...thankful for a square meter just for me and my daughter. Once the funnel cake had been retrieved and scarfed down on a nearby curb, we headed home. The entire "experience" lasted no more than 30 minutes from car door to car door. Longest 30 minutes ever.
I love our city. I'm not part of the population that spends all it's energy complaining about how bad it is...wishing they lived in Nashville or Dallas or anywhere but here. I have no desire to contribute to the inferiority complex that has plagued this city for years. Fortunately that segment of the population seems to grow smaller every year either by conversion (they figure out there is more good than bad) or migration (they pack up and leave). Whatever the reason, the percentage of proud Memphians grows daily. Thank goodness!
I think this weekend's festival proves just how many people are willing to go out and enjoy what our city has to offer. I'm happy that so many people were out enjoying the weather, their friends, and our fine community. I had every intention of celebrating with them.
It just turns out that I prefer the idea of a crowded street festival to the reality of one.
The bad news is that might mean I'm turning into a curmudgeonly old hermit. The good news is that there are plenty of people who can tolerate a mosh pit or the trading floor of the NYSE or Disneyworld in June. I'm confident that I can leave this particular community experience to those people next time.
I will stick to things with perimeters where I can maintain my personal bubble, my sanity, and all of the skin on my heels.
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