the first post in an irregular new feature that involves me walking

My usual daily jaunt around town most often involves walking along the waterfront, or at least through part of the park on the waterfront.

I wasn't going to let a little thing like a crowd stop me from my enjoyment.

Some years, I sat on my balcony and if the wind was blowing the right direction, the smoke and aroma of the Ribfest wafted over my way. I would look down on the street below - before the trees grew up to obscure the view - and see dozens of people walking home with white styrofoam containers stuffed with delectable ribs, or corn, or whatever it was they stood in line for many, many minutes to purchase.

I'm not even remotely fond of ribs, but it would be enough to entice me down from my quiet contemplation to immerse myself into the crowd that had gathered to eat, listen to music, buy stuff, and enjoy the novelty of being able to walk around outside with a plastic cup of beer in hand.

I'm also not overly fond of crowds, but love to see events like this enjoyed by so many people. Since I'm not buying and live so close, I can simply leave when I've had enough and sit at my favourite cafe and watch the people who wait patiently for the free shuttle bus that will take them to the far flung places where they have (thankfully) parked their cars.

One can never be too overdressed for buying ribs. Now how long before that bus...

This group was the last to get on this bus... it would take 2 more buses to pick up the rest of the seemingly neverending line that snaked down the block and around the corner.

Once they all cleared off the sidewalk, I headed back home to my potato salad and my own not-a-$5-Coors-Lite-8oz-beer.

"Four days of warm weather and sunshine brought over 175,000 people to the 14th Annual Canada’s Largest Ribfest in Spencer Smith Park in Burlington, Ontario - Crushing last year’s attendance record of 148,000.
An astonishing 150,000 lbs of ribs consumed over the weekend!
The venue, entertainment, 18 rib teams from across North America, attendance, ribs consumed and money raised for charities makes Canada’s Largest Ribfest the “Super Bowl” of Ribfests across Canada.
The organisers from The Rotary Club of Burlington Lakeshore were also elated to raise an estimated $320,000 for local charities. Over the last 14 years, total money raised is now over $2,170,000."

~from website