Folk Fest 2008

I woke up yesterday morning with no real agenda for the day. During the morning news I learned that the Folk Fest was going on just minutes from our house. The benefits of living near a Huge Big Ten campus. It boasted music from around the world as well as an international food court. For that reason alone we decided to head over and check it out. We were not disappointed. The food court had ethnic dishes from China, Korea, Jamaica, Hawaii, Poland, Ethiopia, Mexico and Native America. After much thought we decided to try the Jamaican food.

We ordered the jerk chicken with a side of grilled pork. It came with vegetables, rice with beans and a sweet corn bread. Rather tasty but much too spicy for the kids. They sampled it like champs trying everything on the plate. The boy devoured the corn bread to help ease the heat. I had no problem cleaning the plate.

The kids were still hungry so we then decided to go for some Hawaiian. A sweet BBQ chicken sandwich on homemade bun, coconut coleslaw (AWESOME) fruit and chips. They really enjoyed this dish.

There was an abundance of music at the Folk Fest. With 5 stages there was lots to choose from. We listened to the some Polka music while we ate. Some of our favorite music were these impromptu set-ups on the side of the road.



The Apprentice tent was a huge hit. Featuring a variety of learned crafts, we got to watch the artist in action. Here is some embroidery...

A wood worker making a unique bird...

Lace work...

Whittling, the process of how it goes from block of wood to a duck.

Not pictured but also observed; birch bark biting, birch baskets, carving stone and braiding.
The kids enjoyed the Children's activity center. Where they made a leather key chain, pounding different shapes into the wet leather.

Here is the boys finished work. He designed a castle with a surrounding path.

Then they made a stain glass picture by cutting out shapes in black paper and filling in the holes with colored tissue paper.

Then they chose to make flowers out of tissue paper. They turned out really good.

Also in the children's area was a platform with jump ropes and hop scotch. The kids loved it. Here little girl is trying to jump rope.

For awhile two grown men were turning a large rope for the kids to run through or practice jumping. The boy had fun doing both. (Also, not pictured)

Our last stop of the festival was the balloon man. DD got a walking dog, the boy a sword and belt. Fencing anyone?

Hope you enjoyed are recap of the Folk Fest.