Fall Festival!

If you were to take a helicopter ride over the west side of Evansville some time in your life, the week of the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival would be the week to do it. From above, on the first full week of October, you would not recognize this usually somewhat boring street. Any other week, you would see a bunch of family-owned stores, a couple banks, and a library. It’s an interesting and historic street, but definitely not a busy one. On this particular week, however, Franklin street becomes the focal point of the whole tri-state area. I would love to take a helicopter ride to get the full effect of just how busy the Fall Festival is.
From above, you would first notice the crowd. Thousands and thousands of people crowd in everyday, it’s almost overwhelming. You would see commotion as people move both up and down the street. You would see the food booths that are lined up along four or five blocks. You would notice the rides, starting with the ferris wheel. You would see flashing lights, fast-moving rides, and people going booth to booth to play their favorite games. From the sky, you just catch a glimpse of what is actually inside of the festival.
Being inside of the festival, you really get the full effect. It is definitely a sight to see. Going up the street, I first notice all of the people. You get a variety of people at the Fall Festival. You see gangsters, you see rednecks, you see druggies, you see white trash, and everything else in between. It’s hard not to stare sometimes. At night time, you see a lot of “almost” fights, where people yell profanities back and forth but usually end up walking away. Occasionally, you might even experience an actual fight, but the police are usually quick to stop it. For some reason, people find excuses to fight at the Fall Festival; I really don’t understand it. Beyond the people, you notice the numerous food stands. There are signs advertising all kinds of food. Pretty much everything you could ever eat, you’ll find it fried. Fried cookie dough, fried green beans, fried macaroni and cheese, even fried turkey testicles (one of the more disturbing things I’ve seen at the Fall Festival).
You also see one of the most well-known booths at the festival: the bug booth. There you see brightly colored lollipops with scorpions, crickets, and grasshoppers in them, as well as chocolate covered crickets. If you successfully eat one before you get too grossed out, you receive a big button stating you are in the “I ate a bug club”.
Besides all of the unusual, different, and downright gross food you see at the Fall Festival, you can also find your normal foods. Corn dogs, cotton candy, walking tacos, barbeque sandwiches, apple cider, chicken dumplings, and so much more. Looking at the food map, it’s almost impossible to make a choice with the hundreds of food options they present you with. I can only imagine how much money is brought into the festival just for food.
You experience many different tastes at the festival, depending on how adventurous you get with your taste testing. One of the favorites of the people is the fried cookie dough. I tried it for the first time on Monday, and while I could almost feel myself gaining weight as I ate it, I will admit it was delicious. You bite into a fried coating, and then you get to experience the warm delicious cookie dough inside. It’s a million times better than sneaking cookie dough from your mother’s batch while she’s not looking. Being a big pickle fan, I had to try the fried pickle chips as well. It tastes just as you would think; fried coating over delicious pickles. Dip it in some ranch and it’s rather amazing. Corn fritters will always be one of my favorites. It tastes like fried corn casserole, which sounds nasty, but it’s delicious. You dip it in maple syrup. It always makes my fingers sticky, but it’s well worth it. Pretty much everything at the festival has a fried taste to it, but that’s what makes this week so much fun.
The Fall Festival also has a very distinct smell: a mixture of grease and cigarettes. As you pass each booth, you can usually pick up on the smell of the different foods cooking. As I walk by one booth, I smell corn fritters. As I walk by another, I smell corn dogs. Usually the smell is what allures people to buy from a particular booth. Once you walk away from the food part of the festival though, it gets a little gross. Over by the rides, you can no longer smell the individual foods that smell so good. Instead, you solely smell grease. The smell of cigarettes also becomes stronger as you move away from the food. A lot of the ride attendants and game owners are heavy chain smokers; it’s nearly impossible to escape.
While the Fall Festival is not necessarily a classy event, it is definitely a fun one. As much as I hate the stomachache I endure after a Fall Festival dinner, I make it a point to do it every year. It’s one of those love-hate relationships. Everyone knows the festival is dirty, greasy and even trashy at times, but we all love it. The sights, the smells, and the tastes of the Fall Festival are what make it such a unique experience; plus, I don’t think you could find fried turkey testicles anywhere else. At least, I hope not.