I am eighteen years old. I live forty five minutes away from downtown Evansville. I have been to the West Side Nut Club’s annual Fall Festival a handful of times. I do not remember the first time I went, but I have been going for a long time. When I was younger my family and I would go during the day, considering it was less crowded and easier to take a young child to walk around. Once I got older my friends and I would head to downtown Evansville and scope out the night scene. The difference between day and night at the fall festival is astounding.
In southern Indiana, the beginning of October can sometimes still feel like the summer months. The sun beats down on you and you may even see that your skin develops a redish tone, indicating a sun-burn from the sun exposure you may experience while walking around the fall festival. In October you may think you need jeans and a sweatshirt, but not on the west side. During the day at the fest you may even start to sweat from the piercing sun, the light crowd of people, and the heat from the food cooking in the food booths. The weather during the day is a considerable difference to the night.
Though the October days feel like summer, the nights can get frigid. When heading out to the fall fest after about five in the evening I always grab a jacket and am wearing jeans to protect myself from the unpredictable weather changes. It is not unusual to see the festival goers in jeans and sweaters. On an especially cool night people pull out their winter jackets, bundle up and buy hot chocolate for the long night, fun night.
During the day, there is a crowd of people walking around, but they are usually the business people who come during their lunch hour from their Evansville job. It is easy enough to take children and big groups during the sun light hours because the amount of people is not great. It is easy to walk straight up to a food booth and be served right away in the afternoon early evening. Though around five o’ clock in the evening, the crowd begins to show.
Once the sun goes down, Franklin Street has a whole new atmosphere. More people start to head out to the west side to join in the food, rides, and games. Especially on the nights during the weekend, the street starts to become crowded and packed. It is almost impossible sometimes to walk side by side with the person you went with to the fest. Both sides of the street are filled with people walking, talking, eating, and having a good time. Once the crowd starts to pour in it is more difficult to walk straight up to a food booth and be served quickly, more than likely you will have to wait about five minutes to get up to the window and order.
The nighttime crowd is also different in the aspect of how the people look by their certain dress or style. During the daytime people are in casual clothing, jeans and a t-shirt, but at night people’s outfits and styles become more unusual the later the night goes on. At night the guys your mother tells you not to bring home, ones with piercings and tattoos, start to emerge from the converging streets onto Franklin Street. I always try to stay with the people I went with, and stay close to them the entire night. My friends and I are always close and will not let anyone out of our sight, though I am sure the ‘scary’ people we see are nice enough, their looks just put us off.
I have found that during the daytime, the noise is at a minimum, unless some of the elementary schools are having a field day event there. Since there are not as many people, you can only hear murmurs of conversations from the slight crowd. Though, if you go down on the right day, as I stated earlier, there are local school competitions going on and you hear the emcee and his play-by-plays of the occurring event.
At night the decibel of sound ringing in your ears is at a high as the crowd of people starts to arrive. People are yelling conversations all around you, and you even seem to find yourself yelling to your friends as well because so many people are talking and screaming around you that you are sure your friends cannot hear you if you talk to them normally. Music is blaring from the local radio stations and people must talk louder again to be heard over the music. The voice of the emcee on stage rings throughout Franklin Street. People are crowded around the stage to see the event, though it is just as easy to hear the event on the speakers up and down the street. The murmurs heard during the day at the fall fest turn into screams and yells to be heard over the chaos on the street.
The best possible thing about the annual fall festival is the food. The smells do not necessarily vary from day to night. If you ask me, the smell is just as enticing no matter the time you arrive. The walking tacos, fried Oreos and cookie dough, funnel cakes, and other various items’ fragrance are smelt throughout Franklin Street all week, and even the week after the festival.
No matter what time of day you go to the fall festival, it is going to be fun if you go with the right group of people. If you like less noise and crowd, go during the day, but if you prefer more chaos, loud music and lots of people, the nighttime is just for you. Either time, I am okay to go, since I only seem to go to taste the delicious food that comes once a year to the west side of Evansville. The annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival is the place to be the first full week of October.
No comments:
Post a Comment