More "Fest" than "Pierogi"

Last night, Old Brooklyn hosted a Pierogi Fest in the lot next to Mr. E's Inn on Pearl Road.

It was a gorgeous evening in our neighborhood, so we hopped on our bicycles and rode over to Pearl Road.

Like my sweet basket and bell? Both proved useful later in the night.

The area was small, but they had packed a lot into it. Several Cleveland-themed t-shirt businesses, jewelry, crafts, and even a bath fitter. However, the pierogi themselves appeared to be missing. There were two small food tents inside the lot, and the Get Stuffed food truck from Wadsworth. The truck was serving pierogi, but the line was insane and waaaay down the block. As we walked by, the food did look good though.

After a quick spin around the lot, and a brief moment of listening to the live polka music...

...we walked next door to Drink.Bar + Grill for a bite of food and some drinks without the ridiculous lines. I had a little too much fun with the Corpse Reviver #2.

It made the bike ride home much more fun, and seemingly faster. However, Drink is always dead inside whenever we've stopped in. How are they still open a year later? They seem to have some regulars, several of which were seated near us at the bar, but the "crowd" of 25-ish people there when we were seemed to be a lot for them to handle (in addition to hosting a food tent at the event outside). The food is okay, the craft beer and wine list is very good, and the cocktails are great. But, I still struggle with believing that Old Brooklyn residents really want to pay $9 - $15 for cocktails.

So, while fun in theory, the Pierogi Fest didn't quite get it together. A post on the neighborhood Facebook page did indicate that the main pierogi vendor had backed out at the last minute. Too bad. Maybe they'll try again, because I'd love to see more of this type of event in our neighborhood. It was great to see so many people out and about (some fantastic people-watching too), and we had a fun time biking around.

Does your neighborhood host anything fun like this?