the rix mix

Huge Colombia festival on Morris Ave. in Elizabeth today. I can't estimate crowds but if there were 15,000 I wouldn't be surprised. Much of the street was literally human gridlock, you couldn't move unless you pushed your way through. It was terrible for small children & strollers. Although the food stands seemed to be cooking, I saw few people eating - you couldn't find space to stand without having the food knocked out of your hands, unless you made it to a parking lot. The beer stands were doing great. The music puzzled me at first. On a stage at one end of the festival was a young woman who sounded like Aimee Mann except she was singing folk rocky songs in Spanish. At the other end a heavy metal was playing. The music ordinary, they looked like Bachman Turner Overdrive, they did all the guitar poses, & they were singing in Spanish. Inbetween, suitably latin music was blaring from speakers. On a side stage, a man ran on at the mouth radio DJ style ending with "Coors light." Immediately, dozens of people ran at the stage & the man tossed t shirts into the crowd, yelling "Coors light, Coors light." The cops stayed out of the crowd, congregating at either end of the festival. Had they gone in there & gotten jammed up, they may well have had their guns & radios lifted without even knowing it. Perk for men: Hundreds of beautiful, young Latino women in very tight summer clothes.

I walked back down there a few minutes ago, Morris Ave was covered curb to curb with litter, especially plastic beer cups. The street stank of beer. The Elizabeth DPW was slowly - even heroically - working its way up through this mess with shovels, brooms, & a large orange garbage truck.