Taking a Culture Break

Feeling a distinct need to get out of Dodge today, the Momster and I got in the Dodge Intr pid and drove up to Cadillac for their annual art fair. It's held in a shady downtown park across the street from Lake Cadillac, with musical and dance performances in the bandshell at water's edge. We had a swell time looking at the artists' booths and people-watching/dog-watching in general; familial bonding was effected; and I was fiscally responsible, mostly. We had a great lunch at The Bistro, a tiny, funky downtown cafe in a subdivided old downtown building; Mom went for the chicken gyro, while I ordered another Greek-inspired sandwich (exceptionally good hummus, feta, cucumber, spinach, onion, in a grilled tomato wrap); both yummy.

Cadillac, a city of about 10,000, goes through periodic booms and busts; a couple of years ago they saw an exodus of their downtown anchor stores, but the buildings are gradually being subdivided into interesting little specialty shops selling high-end kitchen equipment, patio furniture and whatnot, and the downtown area has been given a facelift; noble attempts, I think, at creating what our governor calls a "cool city." I ventured into one place I thought was an art gallery, only to find a sort of alternative-culture boutique and coffeehouse that was hosting a trippy high school reunion for culture warriors of a certain age, who were sitting in the shabby-chic lounge area pouring over their old yearbooks; imagine "A Mighty Wind" in an Amsterdam hash cafe, and you'll have some idea of this scene. But it was fun, in a surreal way; friendly staff, multiply-pierced young'uns hanging out with the older people, a clean-cut young professional type busily keyboarding his laptop. I bought a pair of earrings there.

We wanted to stop at an Amish store we enjoy on M-115, on the way home -- sort of the yang to the yin back in town -- but we were caught in a fierce thunderstorm, and decided to just keep driving. (If any Michiganians are reading this and plan on making the trek up 115 sometime -- this store is cool in its own low-tech way; stop in. I don't think it has a name. It's a couple miles north of the M-61 junction, on the west side of the road, next to an Amish farm.)

Overall, a good time was had.

This is the kind of stuff I do when I'm not online, or working, or reading, that makes me happy.