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| - The concept of La Fete de Marquette is great, I just can't stand the folks who go to it, at least in the evening. The first warning sign of the night was a sea of lawn chairs set out to enjoy the music... from a distance... without dancing. They took up a ton of space in an already jam-packed area, and people weren't even going to sit in them until the last act (Marcia Ball) came on. I'm probably considered "old" by college town standards, but much of the audience looked like a Baby Boomer convention. This in and of itself is not a problem at all, but when you cram together a ton of people who don't seem to do this sort of thing very often, you get a lot of really drunk jerks with bad attitudes. One guy banged into me, spilling red wine all over my dress. Another woman snapped at me for taking a step backward and having the audacity not to see her with the eyes in the back of my head. People were constantly stopping in the middle of the very narrow thoroughfares to have entire conversations, so getting anywhere was a Herculean mission. Meanwhile, the large tables with plenty of chairs under the beer tent went unused. Why not go there to have a seat and a conversation?! Plus, a number of people had brought their dogs into this huge, noisy crowd. That tends to make the dogs anxious, and it's hard not to trip over the smaller ones.
Now, setting aside my issues with people who don't remember music festival etiquette, there were the usual issues. A single beer cost about as much as a six-pack of that beer would normally cost. Some stalls were selling low-effort carnival-level food, like the bacon on a stick that was just a blob of gelatinous fat. A number of the shopping stalls were uninspired and completely devoid of the French theme of the event, such as head shops that were trying to lure in the burnouts of the neighborhood to get Bob Marley wall hangings. The actual crowd area was so poorly-lit that it was nearly impossible to find our friends.
In this mess, there were good points, namely the food. There were several stalls offering delicious cuisine you don't normally see at an event like this, although the prevalence of southeast Asian stalls (my favorite cuisine) meant that a lot of places were offering the same dishes, some of which were fairly uninspired (like limpid, greasy crab rangoons). The prices were fairly reasonable for a situation like this, and the food was better. I ordered a BBQ brisket sandwich from the Double S stall, and it was falling apart and delicious, especially with the BBQ sauce slathered over it. My companion ordered an American Caprese grilled cheese from the Melted stall, and it took FOREVER. It turned out that they had run out of extra-sharp cheddar, which was in every single one of their sandwiches but for one. It was like watching a team fail spectacularly in an episode of "Food Truck Road Race." Fortunately, one member of the team returned with more cheese, and the sandwich was ridiculously good. As for dessert, I'd suggest sticking to the ice cream from Chocolate Shoppe. The truffles from Gail Ambrosius were fairly hit-and-miss. The sea salt and caramel truffle had a bit too much salt , and it didn't mix into the caramel flavor very well. The mint chocolate truffle tasted funny, and I realized that it was because fresh mint had been used instead of "mint flavoring" that most desserts use. I know that's supposed to make it more "sophisticated," but I found it distracting and clashing with the rich chocolate flavor. The dark chocolate truffle, however, was spot-on. The beer, while exorbitantly priced, was good, and most of it was local. The wine was nothing special.
The live music was great, but it was such a strange set-up with the lawn chairs everywhere and tents scattered around the perimeter that it was difficult to get a sight-line on the stage. Marcia Ball put on a great show, though, and the next several days look like they'll have good acts, too. Just make sure you use the restroom before you head over, the port-a-potties were grosser than the ones at Bonnaroo. I'm not sure I'll be returning next year, but it IS free, so I can't complain too much.
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