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• St.Louis Post-Dispatch. June 12, 2005 These fests didn’t fizzle despite a little drizzle. Lively music downtown, edgy art in the Central West End and Bloody Marys with horseradish in Collinsville are big crowd pleasers. by Shera Dalin and William Lamb Of the Post-Dispatch At the International Horseradish Festival in Collinsville Saturday afternoon, a hush fell over the Optimist Pavilion as the judges in the annual Bloody Mary competition sampled concoctions from about half a dozen contestants. Dan Carpenter of St. Louis clenched his hands in front of him and shifted uneasily from foot to foot while waiting for the verdict. Two years ago, Carpenter took first place and bragging rights for the best Bloody Mary -- with, yes, plenty of horseradish. But last year he scratched. When the judges announced Carpenter as the winner Saturday, his fans cheered and he hooted, punching his clenched fists skyward. “This means a lot,” said Carpenter, a computer programmer. “Everybody says I make the best Bloody Mary. There’s a lot of pressure. “For all those rookies out there, a little lemon and lime juice go a long way,” he said. Across the St. Louis area on Saturday, from the Horseradish Festival in Collinsville to the Central West End Art Fair and Taste and the Sunsplash reggae festival at Kiener Plaza, people gathered under ominously cloudy skies and braved sporadic drizzle to have some outdoor fun. Turnout at this year’s Horseradish Festival was higher than usual, according to Dawn Cordle, the festival’s chairwoman. By midday Saturday, some 5,000 people had strolled the grassy fields at Woodland Park, sampled the kicky condiment and sipped a Bloody Mary or two. The Horseradish Festival continues Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Across the Mississippi River in St. Louis, hundreds of art lovers flocked to the Central West End Art Fair and Taste. Among them, Debbie Katz of University City probably was the only one who bought something out of nostalgia for linoleum flooring. Katz, 49, paid $125 for one of the “floor cloths” that Gina Overshiner of Columbia, Mo., fashions from sections of heavy cotton canvas, decorates with acrylic paints and finishes with multiple coats of polyurethane. It featured a geometric design embellished with paintings of green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and salt and pepper shakers. “It reminds me of the linoleum we had on our dining room floor when I was growing up,” Katz, a Washington University librarian, said, explaining her impulse buy. “It was ugly, but indestructible. If my husband can’t stand it, I’ll give it to a friend.” Now in its 11th year, the event spilled onto McPherson Avenue from Euclid Avenue for the first time to make room for its biggest roster of artists -- 223 in all. About 25 neighborhood restaurants served up samples from their menus. A northward stroll along Euclid from Maryland Avenue to McPherson Avenue was a virtual round-trip tour of world cuisine, with pizza and barbecue ribs competing with sushi, burritos and spring rolls for the attention of passers-by. The event resumes Sunday at 10 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m. Business got off to a sluggish start for many artists Saturday morning, although several said they expected it to pick up in the afternoon once visitors had a chance to case the entire fair. Lizzy McPheeters, 27, of Olivette, paid $38 for a small, colorful print of a farm landscape that Alice Jaegar-Ashland of St. Ann had carved into a block of cherry wood. McPheeters said she was impressed that Jaegar-Ashland was working on a new print while she was tending her booth on McPherson Avenue. Across the street, Lisa Crites was selling wine bottles that she decorates by mixing paints and pouring the mixture inside. “It just etches itself into the glass,” she said. Crites amassed a large collection of empty wine bottles several years ago while coordinating local tastings for a Napa Valley winery. She took to painting them two years ago, when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and a brain tumor. “It gave me a reason to get out of bed in the morning,” she said. Downtown at Kiener Plaza, the annual Sunsplash reggae festival took place beneath skies that were decidedly sun-free. A light drizzle began to fall as Smoking Lions, a five-piece band from Kansas City, entertained a sparse crowd. Jessica Williams listened to the music while her daughters, Zahra, 4, and Mighsha, 7, played in the fountain in front of the stage. “We’re here for the music,” said Williams, 31, of Pagedale, “and because of the atmosphere. You can see all your friends, and it’s a family atmosphere. You can bring your children. It’s not a club or anything.” Republished with permission from St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Columbia [Missouri] Daily Tribune. December 26, 2004 Click link for article. |
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© 2005 Gee Gina |