Let me just get this out of the way - when it comes to festivals, my heart forever belongs to Summerfest. I spent about six years of my childhood living in Milwaukee, so I grew up on brats and Gilles and music on the lakefront. It’s been quite some time since I’ve been back - living in Michigan made it too difficult to attend most years, and since we’ve been back, we’ve been waiting for the kids to be old enough to manage in a throng of tens of thousands of people.

I saw the ad for this year’s festival, which starts (argh!) today - it’s the 40th anniversary. I thought to myself, “Oh yeah, we’re going!” and then I remembered it coincided with our family trip out East. Curses! I actually wondered what my mom’s reaction would be if I called and asked to reschedule. Grrr…..OK, so we’ll wait ’til next year.

Here’s the thing - I know there are plenty of Chicagoans that think the Taste of Chicago is “the bomb.” Jim and I took the kids last year - our first visit - and….I’ll stick with Summerfest. And this is without even knowing exactly how crazy/bad/good Summerfest has become in the last 20 years or so, so this is a completely uninformed decision. But here’s why:

The Taste was really interesting, but I thought the process to get my hands on something substantial to eat was a little ridiculous. I get the point - you’re getting a little “taste” of everything, but for me, standing in a bunch of lines to get something that amounts to the size of a regular meal isn’t really my idea of a good time. If I were working downtown and wanted to do something fun for lunch, then by all means. But a weekend trip for that specific reason? Nah.

And speaking of standing around in a bunch of lines…my anxiety level was at an all-time high trying to keep an eye on three little kids. Holy cannoli. People, police horses, more people, delivery carts, more people…yikes. And there was nowhere to realistically sit, either. I don’t know about you, but sitting butt up on a 2-inch high curb with hundreds of people walking by, so your only view is that of festival-goers’ shins, while trying to hork back a piece of pizza, isn’t all that fun.

Now, it’s safe to say you could make the same arguments against Summerfest. Crazy crowds, lots of lines, etc. But the main purpose of Summerfest is to check out all kinds of music - food is just a sideshow. I long for the day I can take the kids to Miller’s stage, grab some Saz’s ribs and mozzarella and just hang out, listening to jazz. Maybe take them to the polka tent and let them get their funk on.’

I also think there’s just way more for kids to do at Summerfest - kid-specific fun activities. At Taste, kids just follow parents around and wait for a bite of cheesecake from Eli’s. When was the last time your kids said that’s what they wanted to do?

From where I sit, we’re almost halfway in between each festival. Yeah, it’s technically a little longer to drive up north, but I’m telling you, it’s worth it.

If you do decide to go downtown, here’s my Insider Tip: Take the train. Seriously. Usually Metra has a “Kids Ride Free” special going on, or at a minimum, you can get the cheap weekend pass.

Oh, Summerfest. I’ll see you next year.

Technorati Tags: North Shore festivals, Summerfest, Taste of Chicago, music festivals, kids activities

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 11:05 am and is filed under Thoughts(t) , Kids(t) , Check this out!(t) . You can leave a response.