Bellevue Strawberry Festival

I've been MIA for a while, mostly due to this annoying cough I have acquired somewhere that makes me want to really hack out my lungs if only it were possible. Finally, I was able to pull myself out of bed this weekend and rejoin the human race again. Unfortunately, I chose one of the warmest days here in Seattle to be out and about - I saw on the news that the temperature reached 91 degrees Fahrenheit today. I guess it was a good thing then that I was at the Bellevue Strawberry Festival in the morning when the weather was still tolerable. By the time I left the festival at 1:00pm, the weather was already so toasty I was thinking of using the pavement to make, well, toast.

I hate putting people or events down, but I feel I have to be brutally honest. In my mind, calling this event a "strawberry festival" is using the term charitably, especially considering there was only one booth in the entire event that was actually selling strawberries.

This is not to say the event wasn't fun. The musicians and the performers were fantastic, bringing a bright energetic vibe to the event throughout the day. The smell from the barbecue pits and the grilling stations were incredible, to the point it made you feel they were actually doing you a favor by selling a hot dog or a slice of pizza for "only" $5.00. Due to the warm weather, the most popular booth (and probably the most profitable one) was the vendor selling Hawaiian shaved ice; I've actually had Hawaiian shaved ice in Hawaii when I lived there a long time ago and can say with authority that the ice at this event was not remotely "Hawaiian" at all, but for some reason it felt good to pay $3.00 for what was essentially crystallized water with flavored neon food coloring.

The non-food vendors were a mixed, hit-or-miss bunch. A few stalls were representing the home improvement industry like windows and wall sidings, but I blew past them since I don't own a home (yet). Some booths were selling extremely overpriced kitschy junk, the kind you could find in dollar stores that you know will be recalled in the next few months or so. The two stalls that caught my eye were the Nicaraguan pottery and the Venetian masks. The pottery pieces were elaborately decorated with birds and flowers, colored in moss greens and earth reds; the prices were not bad considering each pottery is one-of-a-kind, handmade and hand signed by the artist. The masks were sold by A Masquerade, a costume company in Bellevue, and were genuine imported Venetian masks with seals and stamps on the inside of each mask to verify authentication. Considering the labor, the artistry, the materials, and the gas and shipping charges required to bring them over from Europe, I really don't think the $100 price tag (the silver lace one below actually costs $350) that is typical for most of their Venetian masks is too much to ask for these works of art. Of course, if you are not interested in collecting the masks as art, but are merely looking for a toy for your young child, A Masquerade also sells cheap imitation masks at much more affordable prices of around $10.



In the end, I had a good time thanks to the event coodinators and the volunteers that helped put the festival together. However, if I am to change my ranking from "good" to "great" next time, I would like to see a lot more strawberry vendors, by-products, contests, and maybe even some berry-themed rides. At the very least, put up some strawberry decorations so we remember why we are there.

By the way, I didn't get any strawberries today (I'm not kidding when I say I want to see more strawberries at the festival), but I did get this lovely bag of Rainier cherries that was handpicked within less than 24 hours of the festival. And I love Starbucks for giving out the free little cups of frappachinos to help us cool off at the festival.