Really, the festivals in Milwaukee are quite similar. They all involve the over-consumption of quality beer and some sort of sausage. Everything else is just a variation of the theme. This time it was me throwing my arms around an old Polish couple in their 70's and having a laugh while waiting in the Kielbasa line. I got a Polish plate, cheese pierogies, a 3/4 pound, 16-inch kielbasa served with 6 ounces of sauerkraut nestled in a one-pound loaf of bread sliced down the middle. Holy schnikes, I am going to gain a LOT of weight around here.
As I ate the best pierogie I ever had, I listened to the sound of 6 competing polka bands playing over each other and watched all of the out-of-shape, shirtless white guys milling around with Miller High Life in plastic cups. I started a shirtless guy count. Today it stood at 23. This simple, blue-collar midwest thing they have going is exactly what I love.
It's like my father-in-law said a week earlier as we went in to Turners on a Fish Fry Friday: "Jesus, it's like I walked into a Pieter Bruegel painting." I couldn't have described it better. These descendants from German, Belgium and Flemish immigrants were simply doing what their ancestors had done for hundreds of years: celebrating something or other with friends, family, hearty food and much drink. The whole place reeks of old-world Germany.
Right then I decided I had moved to the coolest place I could move to.
I knew it when we approached the gates to pay our admission and the guy behind the glass said, "Ah, take a couple of bucks off. The kid gets in free. Tell the guy at the gate that Johnny says it's o.k."
Milwaukee.
2 comments:
Best perogie you've ever eaten? Don't you remember the buttery goodness you ate here at the Ukrainian festival? Right now some 80 year old perogie lady is clutching her chest and saying..."I no don't know what just happen Marika, it like someone just pinch my heart." Congrats Jeff. You just made an old lady cry. douche.
You're right. Forgive me. The Ukrainian perogie lady gets the nod in the rundown for best perogie eaten, just because it's possible to overdue it, and I think the Polish fest perogie, while decadent, did weigh about 17 pounds, 12 of which were butter. Give her my love, and a stick of deodorant, too. I have come back to my senses.
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