The Pearl Street Arts Fest!

This past weekend the Pearl Street Arts Fest took place on the Pearl Street Mall up in Boulder, Colorado. Every year booths are set up the entire length of that outdoor mall in the heart of downtown. The mall is a beautiful people place, filled with flowers and a view of the nearby Flatirons. The shops and restaurants, with outdoor patios, along the mall are mostly located in 19th century buildings, making for a perfect setting for an art festival.

In addition to photography, paintings, crafts, and other forms of art, there were also a couple of balloon twisters making balloon animals for the kids, as seen in the photograph on the right. And as usual, there were street musicians and buskers, including a magician, performing for the crowds, as they always do on weekends and weeknights during the summer.

And speaking of street musicians, Boulder has always had a 1960s vibe, popular with both old hippies and younger wanna-be hippies, too. Of course, since Boulder is the 7th most expensive housing market in the country, they either have to be pretty wealthy hippies, students at the nearby University of Colorado, or commute from other parts of the Denver area. Just up Boulder Canyon, in the mountains, is the town of Nederland, which was a very popular spot for hippies back in the 60s. And as far as I can tell, they never left, and still inhabit the town and surrounding wilderness, although they move quite a bit slower these days.

The festival had so many participating artists that they closed 14th Street on either side of the mall to accomodate all of them, as seen in the photograph on the right. In the background is the Boulder Theater, which hosted NPR's eTown - a weekly live music program -  during the early years, before it moved to bigger quarters in a nearby former church. Granted, I have never tuned into that show, but since it is still being broadcast, I might someday do so. Or even go so far as attend a show in person. Maybe. Do they charge an admission fee? As a confirmed cheapskate, that might be a dealbreaker.