The Italian Fest shut down Franklin Avenue from Preston to Brown Street.
The last time I went to this had to be ten years ago, and I somehow remember there being more food vendors set up.
Maybe there was better attendance at night, but in the early afternoon, when the weather was beautiful, there were few people taking advantage of the free live entertainment or carnival rides.
While in the neighborhood, we stopped at Modern Pastry. Walked out about ten pounds heavier.
Because the Hartford Marathon closed off other streets, it was easier to walk than drive on Saturday, so that’s what I did. This quickly turned into a “let’s find cool things” mission.
In search of a late lunch, I attempted to stop by Koji or Feng, but both were closed. The next place I had in mind was The Russell. As I walked by the window, I could see a woman in chartreuse belly dancing. That sealed it for me.
While we ate dinner, we could see jumping houses and other things being set up in the blocked off area on Trumbull Street.
There were clowns and a band. Once outside, we found a remote control (sort of, not really) car race track, some guy walking around in a bear suit with the top lifted off most the time (P.S. This made no sense. Where was Sonar?) I saw someone on stilts, someone dressed as a wizard, and kids running amok with their faces painted. There was even an ice sculpture.
This event was to mark the opening game for the Hartford Wolfpack. They lost.
On the walk home, we got to see some of the fall foliage in Bushnell Park.
The End.