“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 874 (Saturday) – festive

Nava Persian Trio

It was a perfect weather day for the Folk Festival. There was plentiful  sunshine, puffy clouds in the bright blue sky, and welcome breezes. It was warm, but not quite as hot and humid as we remembered it being at past festivals. And it was packed. Every street, every performance stage, every festival food vendor. 

My friends and I walked the Festival footprint with stops to listen to Native American, Persian, and Memphis Soul music. During our wanderings, we caught the strains of Irish music, jazz, and steel drum.

Cobblestone's.

We visited Take Care Vintage to check out the newest vintage shop where I've been gawking in the windows for a month waiting for the opening, and Rainbow Fashion to scope out possible accessories at the “this store is closing” sale. We went into CNCPT 6 art gallery, Lala Books, Brush Art Gallery, and Sweet Lydia’s. There was a visit to a thrift shop on Kirk Street I've walked past dozens of times when it wasn't open.

When it was time for refreshments, we chose the Tavern at Cobblestones for the comfortable air conditioning, seating, and avoidance of the long lines. We feasted on Truffle Parmesan Fries, House BBQ Chips, and the Spa Sampler of hummus, olives, Feta cheese, chick peas, and Greek salad.

There was our festival tradition meetup with my friend’s cousin and his wife, and a couple other of their relatives. We had fun over at the Dance Pavilion listening to Don Bryant Memphis soul and chatting.

Trolley ride!

There was a lot of walking and some stair climbing. The trolley was running and we rode it from the National Street Car Museum over to Boarding House Park, mostly because it's fun to ride the trolley. After disembarking, we walked back to where we had come from. Later, to round out the mechanical amusements, we rode the elevator in the parking garage. We managed to avoid both the porta-potties and the need for medical attention.

It was a great day in downtown Lowell. It had all the fun stuff with friends, music, vintage and thrift shops, books, food and drink, and a trolley ride. Success!