these irish eyes are hazy

Last night this lassie headed down to the lake front to participate in Milwaukee's annual Irish Fest. It is, by far, my favorite festival of the summer. The weather last night was perfect and the grounds were crowded. We have our annual traditions once we get there and the first thing we always do is get an Irish Twist. I am almost positive there is nothing 'Irish' about this sweet, sugary, doughnut like morsel, but it tastes like heaven and leaves you licking every inch of your sugary buttered fingers. Sorry team TwitFit, I fell off the wagon again last night. (but it was worth EVERY calorie)

Now, there are three types of people that go to Irish Fest. First you have you non-irish attenders. They come dressed in regular garb, drink beer, listen to the bands and enjoy the festivities. Some may enjoy all this festival has too offer a little too much, but in the end, they leave having had a good time.

Then there are the Irish lads and lassies. They come to enter their babes in the 'most freckles contest', watch their lassies dance an mean Irish step and share a pint with a friend or two. They are most often wearing some sort of Irish attire, but nothing too gaudy or flashy. By the end of the night they may be dancing the jig on the picnic tables in front of the Harley Stage, but I would not know anything about this, I swear!

Finally, there are the yahoos that may or may not be Irish, I tend to lean to the not. They are verbose, drunk and obnoxious from the moment their first beer graces their lips. They are decked out in loud green attire, Mardi Gra beads, neon green wigs and flashing beer mug hats. They. Make. Me. Cringe. While I was in Ireland I never saw a flashing beer mug hat or a full grown adult leprechaun in a neon green wig. This is probably why I yearn to go back there so!

All in all, we had a great time and listened to some great bands. Did you know that you can dance like a rooster to an Irish jig? Yeah, me neither. But the man dressed like a leprechaun thought it was the way to go before he leap frogged over a stool and fell to his demise. He falls into the third category for sure.