Columbus Asian Festival

Continuing our tradition of hitting up all the local festivals, we went to the Asian Festival on Saturday. We attended in the capacity of Red Cross volunteers, manning the first aid tent. I am happy to report that there were no major incidents while we were there, mostly lots of band-aids for people with poor footwear and a couple bandages for scrapes and bruises as a result of falls.

The Asian Festival features the foods, handicrafts, and art of the many countries lumped together as Asia. It is a well attended festival, with a very diverse crowd. The park it is located in is not in a great area of town, but the many police in attendance seemed to keep things under control. The two features of the festival are the performances and the food. There are three stages featuring a wide variety of acts from martial arts to interpretive dance. There are a lot of talented people here in Columbus.

The food was spectacular. I was worried that the festival would mostly have overpriced fast food, like many festivals. Instead, it was a showcase of much of the best ethnic food in Columbus. There were even many vegetarian options. I ate well and too much!

One interesting event was a sport somewhat like volleyball. The main difference is that you can only use feet and head to hit the ball, no hands. This forced a variety of acrobatic moves to spike the ball with flying feet. Interesting and physically impressive.

The Marion, Ohio Popcorn Festival

One of my favorite things about living in Ohio is the multitude of agricultural festivals that populate the summer. We have a tomato festival, multiple corn festivals, a garlic festival, a massive pumpkin festival, a honey festival, etc etc. Each follows the same basic formula. Lots of locals eating fried goodies, drunk and happy. Music and talent shows that you wish you missed. Small town cops anxious about maintaining order in their normally very quiet towns.

One of the biggest variables is the connection that the festival has to the agricultural product that shares its name. The Pumpkin Festival in Circleville, Ohio has hundreds of pumpkins on display, pumpkin bread, donuts, pumpkin candy, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin beer. The Garlic Festival at North Market near downtown Columbus has garlic ice cream, foods infused with garlic, and lots of varieties of garlic on sale for culinary or planting purposes.

The Popcorn Festival was a disappointment as there was very little popcorn to be had. One popcorn vendor with the specialties you would expect (popcorn balls, carmel popcorn, etc) and of course there was a kettle corn vendor. Tons of other food but it was all things like elephant ears and fried bologna.

The band (Molly Hatchett) was about twenty years past their prime though the audience was mildly into it. I felt sorry for them when they asked for applause and got a tepid response. No fear though, there were two more stages with other entertainment. One had a talent show with twirling little girls followed by gospel music. The other had random locals playing rock music.

The weather was fantastic and despite all the negatives I listed above it was a lot of fun. Where else can you peruse the wares of Deb's Homemade Do Rags? In a place like Ohio this is about as exciting as it gets (excluding anything associated with Ohio State football, of course). And we like it that way darn it.