Third Annual Fall Festival

Today, the McLean Avenue Merchants' Association Third Annual Fall Festival is taking place from 11AM to 7PM on, you got it, McLean Avenue. McLean Avenue, for those not familiar with the City of Y______, is in the extreme south of the city, near the Bronx border, and turns into Nereid Ave in the Bronx when it crosses the Bronx River Parkway (I can see my house from that map). Along with Katonah Avenue in the Bronx, it forms the Greater Woodlawn neighborhood, which straddles the Yonkers/Bronx border (Woodlawn officially refers to the section of the Bronx east of VanCortlandt Park, West of Webster Avenue, North of Woodlawn cemetery and South of the Yonkers border). The neighborhood has enough of an Irish character that such events as the Fall Festival are covered in the Irish Central.

This year's festival will feature four stages worth of entertainment as well as the usual food, booze, and entertainment offerings. The Avenue's establishments are heavily weighted towards bars, so the beer will be flowing all the doo-dah day. There is a minor controversy, though, as the festival is being held on Yom Kippur. Having known one of the organizers of the festival for almost thirty years, I have to say that the guy hasn't got a bad bone in his body, so this oversight is not due to malicious intent.

I called in a favor at work so I'll be able to go on a bender today, switching a shift with a co-worker and working a double from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning so I can sleep for a few hours, then spend all afternoon/evening/night getting my craic fix.