What I learned From Ribfest

After being in the London Ribfest this weekend, being either scorched by the heat or dampened by the rain, there were a few things that I saw happening that really changed my mind about people in general. The weekend overall wasn't as big of a success for me that I had hoped. But now I am seeing why. Here are some things that I saw happening this weekend:

1. People would rather waste money on fortune tellers than on art (or anything else more essential). For the first 2 days we were set up beside a palm/tarot reader. This made for an interesting experience as we saw people pay upwards of $35 for a 'reading' done by a mother/daughter team (and sometimes the father jumped in as well, giving me the idea that ANYONE can do this). People actually were lining up for this. Besides totally blasting my opinion that people didn't overall believe that crap, I can't believe that someone would pay that much for 10 minutes of possible entertainment. Its totally absurd. I think next year I'm going to ditch the whole art thing and set up a fortune telling tent to bring in the cash. I mean from what I saw, anyone, no matter how uneducated you are, can 'read' palms and people will pay.

2. While sitting in my tent, just waiting around to chat with people, I got to hear how many people can do what I do. This is probably one of the most fun parts of the festivals for me. Now that digital cameras are the big thing, everyone EVERYONE is a professional photographer. It doesn't matter that I spent 2 years in school, the thousands of dollars I have in camera equipment and hours shooting to get the perfect shot. The people coming into my tent with their $300 camera most commonly exclaim "Oh I could take that shot" or "My 4 year old nephew has a photo better than that". Its taken a good deal of patience to not just jump up and yell at them. Fine, you think you can do better? Why aren't YOU here then??? I'm quite happy that these people don't buy anything since they have no concept of art.

3. I can't put a full post just complaining about people, so this is my compliment area. I think everyone should thank the volunteers who worked the festival, either picking up garbage or helping out crazy vendors. From being there all weekend, seeing the same people endlessly emptying garbage, i have to give them credit for sticking it out. They did an excellent job and I never saw garbage on the ground or a overfull garbage can. I also saw two boys helping out a crazy old vendor for at least 30 minutes while he yelled at them and ordered them around like they were his slaves, and yet they helped without complaining. Good job people.

4. Now lastly, on the topic of garbage, I'm going to say that Ribfest has got to be the most environmentally unfriendly festival in the city. Every rib vendor used styrofoam containers for their ribs, resulting in thousands of containers being used and thrown out right away. I am really appalled by the amount being thrown out. Maybe next year they can think of something else, like maybe using paper plates for the 90% of the people who stay and eat at the park. Paper breaks down faster than styrofoam and doesn't take up as much room in the garbage. Think hard about the environment that you're hurting for the future kids, Boys and Girls Club!!