Mar 20, 2012

St. Patrick’s Day musings from Springfield, Ill.

We were fortunate enough to have actual St. Patrick’s Day fall on a Saturday this year.  That, along with record warmth in the Capital City, brought out the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration to downtown Springfield I can recall.  And while the powers that be in the city would like to pretend it’s all about the parade, the reality is that’s just an afterthought to the street festival atmosphere that takes over downtown.  Everyone is a little Irish … and a little more inebriated.


Mar 7, 2012

Things Discussed at the Brewhaus: Vol. 6

I had started the second half of the Saint Louis/Soulard Mardi Gras blog, but work obligations and unexpected turns in life have kept me from finishing.  But all in all, I can’t complain.  Beside, other than a mysterious and exotic Gypsy, who would listen? 
Plus, it’s probably the journalism major in me, but I’m a stickler for details and want to make sure I get everything right before I hit the dreaded “send” button.  For instance, it takes forever for my archaic computer to upload any pictures, and then it takes me more time to fix and screw-up in spacing that resulted from me posting the picture.   
Anyway, here’s the latest list of Brewhaus conversation starters to tide everyone over.  These are actual topics discussed over the past few weeks.  Maybe you were involved, but in all honesty, even if you weren’t, you probably didn’t miss much.

A commoner dines at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern, Monroe, Wis.

I wasn’t sure a place existed that could be the perfect representation of Wisconsin life, but then I traveled through Monroe, Wis., one week...