Things Discussed at the Brewhaus, No. 9

Have you ever looked across the table at your fellow barflies and wondered what you were going to talk about next? Well, at the Brewhaus we never seem to have that problem. But if you do, here is a list of topics recently pondered over many a basket of burnt popcorn:

Irish Days in Farmersville, Ill. (or one more reason to drink)

I’ll chalk this blog entry up to another in the category of “What I did this weekend.”  I’ve long heard my mysterious and exotic Gypsy talk about what a great time it is at Irish Days in Farmersville, a small farming community (go figure) about 30 minutes south of Springfield, Ill., just off Interstate 55.  So, we made plans to meet friends who are from there and check it out.

I have to be honest … I’m not sure what makes Farmersville’s Irish Days Irish.  Perhaps the town was settled by a lot of people of Irish descent.  We do know several Murphys from the area.  But if you’re looking for Celtic music, highland games, Guinness beer and corned beef and cabbage, you’re probably going to be disappointed. 

What Irish Days does appear to be is your standard small town homecoming festival/picnic, and like most of those are, it was very entertaining for what it was.  As you’d expect, the festival was held in the center of town, on the square.  When we arrived, we grabbed a quick bite to eat from the food vendors set up in the park – a pork chop sandwich for me and a cheeseburger for Gypsy.  I added a slice (actually more like a rectangle) of pizza from the Boy Scouts – always nice to support a local cause. 

With a food base to go on, it took us no time to find the beer tent, where we met our friends (yes, the Murphys were among them). 

I found it!!

Art by day, wine by night

After a long weekend volunteering at the SOHO Music Festival to start the month and a busy stretch at work, I’ve been suffering from a little “blogger’s block,” as I like to call it.  But I figure there’s no better way to get back on track than recapping an eventful and extremely fun Saturday.  

As fate would have it, I served as a roadie for a mysterious and exotic Gypsy selling her wares at the MacART Fest just a few blocks down the road.   The festival is part of a revitalization effort for the MacArthur Boulevard corridor in Springfield, Ill.  In addition to raising funds for the effort, the festival helps brings people into the neighborhood to see the recent surge of specialty shops and businesses taking roots in the area.  And since we live so close by, it was a no-brainer for Gypsy to participate in the arts and crafts fair June 9. 

Random observations from the 2012 SOHO Music Festival

Another weekend of volunteering at the eighth annual SOHO Music Festival in downtown is on the books.  You may remember my post about last year’s event, so I won’t spend too much time on setting up the festival, but I did want to put down a few thoughts now that the festival has wrapped up what appears to be another highly successful fundraiser for the Mini O’Bierne Crisis Nursery. 

From Friday night, Tom Irwin and the Hayburners

So, if you’ll indulge some extemporaneous babble, here are some takeaways I had from SOHO 2012: