When I got back from Ireland towards the end of June, the remaining summer seemed lifeless. Apart from summertime duties – like mowing the lawn – what would I really have to look forward to?
There were no more big trips planned or great outings scheduled. Looking at my calendar seemed quite a bit disappointing.
So I found a site with various Ohio festivals and started marking them down. These festivals go into October, so there’s a bit more to go. Here they are in chronological order…
1.) June 27: Lorain’s International Festival – many booths representing various ethnic cuisines. I usually get Puerto Rican food there.
2.) July 11: St. John’s West Shore Arts Festival – along the walking path are various arts and crafts booths (and everything else under the sun). I got myself a fried bologna sandwich there.
3.) July 12: Huron River Fest – Very small festival with some rides and food vendors. Was something quaint.
4.) July 17: Akron Hamburger Festival – a one-city-block festival with an admission charge. Steel Trolley Diner’s Elvis Burger was pretty good though with banana jam, bacon and peanut butter.
.
They even brand “STD” on each burger bun.
5.) July 17: Wellington Cheese Festival – They don’t make cheese there anymore, but they did have a nice cheesecake auction that I took advantage of.
6.) July 24: Irish Festival at the Berea Fairgrounds – Like many of the festivals, this was my first time here. I was going to get a lamb dinner, courtesy of the two rotating lambs near the front…
.…but it cost a good 20 bucks after an entrance fee. So I went with the potato boxty and bangers instead..
7.) August 1: Lakewood Arts Festival – closing off part of Detroit and making two paths of arts booths. Some really interesting stuff.
8.) August 8: Mccomb Cookie Festival – being that there’s a cookie factory in the town, the festival is appropriately named. A small town and a small festival. I got a corn dog there and then some packaged cookies. Then I headed over to Findlay for a milkshake and a 16 scoop sampler pack from Dietsch’s in Findlay.
9.) August 15: St. Joe’s (Indiana) Pickle Festival – with the Sechler Company just outside of town, it’s no wonder there’s a pickle festival. I stopped at Sechler’s for a tour and some really inexpensive jars of pickles, including sweet orange pickles and sweet lemon.
I even picked up a peanut butter and sweet orange pickle sandwich…
…and pickle ice cream.
The pickle sandwich was so-so and the ice cream didn’t taste like pickles at all (mostly a lemon flavor, although it was more of an icy gritty homemade ice cream).
I also bought some tasty Amish pies…
…Pumpkin…
…and Pecan.
10.) August 16: Valley City’s Jumping Frog Festival – inspired from the Mark Twain story, people come from all over with their frogs for this annual event. You can even rent a frog, which I did.
Meet Butter….
He jumped 5’4″ in three jumps. Not too shabby for a rental.
11.) August 16: Marblehead’s Halupki (Stuffed Cabbage) Festival – lot of people at this event. To try something new, I had the slavik pizza.
One with cabbage on it…
…and the other with cheese.
The dough was different…almost like a restaurant roll. I liked it.
12.) August 21: Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival – I really liked this festival for the variety of food.
First I had a pitawurst, where they filled pita with a mixture of brat, sauerkraut and onion.
Then they also had various places selling normal brats.
I also had my first deep fried Snickers bar here which was REALLY good. The outer area is soft and gooey…
while the middle is still firm.
To me, it tasted like a chocolate chip pancake.
13.) August 21: Lexington Blueberry Festival – a big festival but not very blueberry-esque. At least, not to what I expected. There was one particular booth with blueberry products, including a blueberry burger. But the girls told me is was just blueberry and mayo mixed together. So I passed on it.
14.) August 23: Greek Festival in Cleveland Heights – big festival, little expensive for some dishes and a limited pastry selection (maybe they sold out?). They did have smelts and calamari which were out of this world though. Good grubbin.
My next festivals should be more in depth. I really should have started the blogging a bit soon. :-)