Abbot Kinney Festival

I've been enjoying the last few weeks of Summer here in LA, from the Labor Day party with co-workers and friends, to concerts and travel; Summer is almost over, but it's been one busy and fun season!

 

This past weekend was the annual Abbot Kinney Festival in Venice, complete with street food and drinks, beer gardens, shopping, musical acts and DJ's.  It reminded me slightly of the Sheboygan County Fair back in Wisconsin, but only for the Funnel Cakes, large crowds of people walking slowly, music playing in the background, and everyone having a good time.  The Sheboygan County Fair is the best Summer Festival I can ever remember going to, with Steamboat Days being up there, but still not even close.  There was always such good food (and I had to eat one of everything: Teenie Weenie Donuts, Grilled Cheese, Deep Fried Cheese, Corn-on-the-cob, Milkshakes, Hawaiian Ice, Apple Pops, Cotton Candy, Popcorn, Pizza, Funnel Cakes, and Grilled Chicken Sandwiches), plenty of beer tents, inlcuding my favorite, Leinenkugel's, lots of street vendors, games and rides, performances throughout the fairgrounds, and the 4H Building that would house all the art projects that students submitted throughout Sheboygan County.  It's been over 15 years since I had anything in the 4H Building but I can't help walking through it and checking out the artwork, Lego Houses, photo displays, and clothing people took the time to work on and perfect before their submission.

 

It was a hot September day and I remembered how difficult it had been to park last year, as I had driven around for a half hour and finally parked a mile away, to which I waited another 45 minutes in line for a wristband just to get into the beer garden.  Luck was on my side this year, as I found a friendly driver, wave me over that he was leaving, and he was only a half block from the festivities, and I somehow finagled my way into the line (only having to wait 10 minutes for the wristband) while chatting with Dan, whom had a kelly green wallet, that matched my kelly green purse.  Dan, I looked for you inside the beer garden to buy you a beer, but alas, I never saw you.  You've got some good karma coming your way!  We had friends pouring the beers so we never waited long for a drink, but a group of 12 was bound to get bored so we moved onto greener pastures, a different beer tent, which we never made it to, because everyone was too hungry.  We stopped at a pizza place, picked up a slice, saw our good friend, Spencer, who was selling his clothing line, and had a booth set up (his t-shirts looked so comfy and I loved the style).  You can find out more information on his line right here: Herald Hill on Facebook

The Crew at Cabo!

Everyone parted ways after that and we all headed over to the Whaler (haven't been there in years, wrote my first ever Yelp review about that bar) and we didn't stay long, then made our way to Cabo to celebrate Jack's Birthday with some tequila shots, and lastly, dropped all the guys off at The Brig on Abbot Kinney.  That was about all the fun I could handle in one day with a busy work week ahead, but it ended up being a pretty awesome day :)

 

In Wisconsin, during the Summer, every week is a different town festival, with cover bands, cheap beer, yummy food, and lots of people, dancing and having a good time.  I definitely miss that about being at home during that time of year and wish LA had something like that, but for now, I'll just have to settle for the Abbot Kinney Festival and Brunette Bungalow fiesta's!