La Plaza Fiesta... That's Gaelic, Right?

You would think I would not be confused by the two. I had really wanted to go to the Irish Festival, which was downtown today at Military Park. So T and I and M and R all loaded into the Patmobile and headed downtown. The confusion comes in because I went to Military Plaza, instead.

Now, there were tents and booths and bands and stuff all set up at Military Plaza, so I wasn't being totally stupid. Okay, I probably should have realized I was in the wrong place when I saw the Mariachi band. And the signs written in Spanish.

But, La Plaza Fiesta was a happenin' place. I know this, because we were only there for about 2 minutes when a drunk (I hope he was drunk. Otherwise, he has no excuse.) guy comes up to M and I as we are walking along and turns and--I really have no other way to describe this--shakes his ass at us. Then he points and winks and blows a kiss to M and runs off. I think M and I stared at each other for about 30 seconds, shocked, before laughing out loud.

There were lots and lots of interesting crafts for sale there. Woodcraft, leatherwork, neat stuff made from natural materials like shells and porcupine quills and stuff. R bought a wooden flute.

But I was pretty fascinated by the colorwork in these sweaters. Lots of Mexican and Native American motifs. Mostly children's sweaters, though, so I didn't buy today. I did also see some great crochet work--ponchos, beanies, stuffies.

And this shawl, which I thought was the most awesome-est shawl! It's triangles of leather, crocheted together to form a pattern, with a crochet edge and some fringe. Way cool. And too expensive for me. Besides, when have I ever worn a leather shawl? I just thought it was cool.

I did see a lot of silver jewelry I liked, particularly some Aztec calendar charms and some turquoise rings. I was able to exercise some restraint there, but in the end, I did end up purchasing a pretty sweet necklace with pale blue stones.

By this time, we had figured out that the Irish Festival was taking place about 8 blocks away at Military Park. So we decided to make it a Two Festival Day.


I was a little disappointed by this sign out front. What the hell?


Of course, I naturally gravitated to the knits. These are children's sweaters again. But look at the aran patterns! I must admit, I am one of those knitters who likes to do the really complex cabling and stuff. (Except Chaos. Don't get me started on T's Chaos sweater again.)

Found some sheep there. There was apparently going to be some sheep herding demonstrations later (because you never know when you'll need that skill) so they had a couple penned up here. They were pretty friendly and this guy with the horns came right over to the fence when I started talking to him. But you know, I'm pretty chicken when it comes to animals larger than a housecat, so I didn't pet him even though that seemed like that's what he wanted. Do people pet sheep? Do the sheep like it?

Pretty cool music here, too. There were several stages set up. We listened to these guys, Lathan and Lathan, for a while. I really wanted to hear Gaelic Storm, but they weren't playing until much later.

One of the coolest things about the Irish Festival was this parade. Bagpipes are frackin' awesome!



I did not escape this festival without buying jewelry, either. I purchased a lovely Claddagh pendant to celebrate my Irish heritage.