As most of you know…I ALWAYS have my phone ready to snap pictures wherever we are…But last Saturday night was a sad exception to that rule.
We jumped in a cab to head to downtown Iowa City and we were already several blocks from our house when I realized I had forgotten my phone! And what a night to forget it, since last weekend was the annual Iowa Arts Festival here in Iowa City! (Grrr!!!!)
After the cab dropped us off downtown, Hubby even offered to JOG HOME AND BACK just to get it…but I realized how foolish that was. (What a guy!) I used to survive just fine without being tethered to social media, so I reluctantly decided to gut it out…sans phone! (But let’s just say I am SO grateful to our friends Cindy and Marty for snapping several pictures for me during the evening so I didn’t have to go completely “cold turkey” on phone withdrawal.)
Let me try to paint a mental “word picture” of the event for you.
Just imagine…
Rows of white tents spanning blocks and blocks of closed to traffic streets in downtown Iowa City…and those tents housing all kinds of artworks…from jewelry to pottery to paintings.
And more rows of tents on Restaurant Row on Iowa Avenue selling every kind of food you could imagine.
And a huge performance stage in the center of it all…with continuous music and entertainment during the entire three day event.
Cool. Really cool. ALL of it.
The sights, sounds and smells were a perfect backdrop to a wonderful evening spent downtown. And Mother Nature was VERY kind to us as well. The night was a gorgeous summer night in Iowa.
After a walk through all the crowds and tents and artwork and food, the four of us started our evening with dinner on the small (and I mean SMALL…six seats!) patio outside at Donnelly’s…our favorite “people watching” spot on the Pedestrian Mall.
Iowa City has placed pianos in various spots outdoors where accomplished (and not so much) pianists can sit down and play whatever strikes their fancy. And that night we were SO lucky to hear an impromptu concert by a much loved local (and internationally acclaimed) artist named Chase Garrett!
Check out his bio…
http://www.chasegarrett.com/bio.html
Chase is a Blues, Swing, Boogie Woogie and Jazz pianist who’s business card simply states “I make pianos happy!” And THAT ain’t no lie! It’s amazing to witness how his music affects people. As Chase played, the pedestrians paused, and many stopped dead in their tracks to enjoy the music. And strangers began to talk with each other as they listened. Music is a GOOD thing. And Chase is a people magnet with a rare talent.
Later in the evening, after dinner, we walked toward the main stage of the Festival, and we listened for a few minutes as the musical entertainment kept the crowd enthused and engaged…
The huge crowd was in no hurry for the evening to end…And neither were we! So off we went to the outdoor patio at one of Iowa City’s original old bars…
And thanks to Cindy (my photographer of the evening) I even have a photo of Hubby and me enjoying our late night out with friends…
We may be “snow birds”…but we can still hold our own in this college town! And we love having pals who jumped in to save this blog post…because a picture IS worth a thousand words!
(Thanks again Cindy and Marty…and thanks for coming out to play!)
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