Saturday was one of the two annual festivals that take place in my neighborhood each year. I always prefer HampdenFest to Honfest because it’s more geared toward the people who live in the neighborhood as a opposed to the big spectacle that is HonFest. There are a lot fewer people in attendance, and since I hate crowds that’s always a plus for me. The weather is usually much nicer too since HampdenFest is held in September and HonFest is in June.

This was the second year that they had a Mac and Cheese Off as one of the events. Last year it was great with lots of entries split between professionals from the local restaurants and amateur cooks. This year I am not sure what happened as there were only 3 entries. I did hear that they had 3 no-shows, but that still would have left them with about half the number of entries as last year. The money from the tickets to taste and vote went to support the Hampden Food Pantry so we were still happy to contribute even though it really wasn’t worth $10.

After making a quick once around the festival and voting in the Mac and Cheese Off we took a break. My friend Carissa, who also lives in the neighborhood, had a “Lady Party” which was really just an excuse to sit around with a bunch of our girlfriends eat lots of bread and cheese and have some drinks for an hour or so. Her husband and some of the other guys from this group of friends were away at a soccer game, which is why it was just a lady party. I think we did the moniker justice by talking about many things that would have sent the guys screaming in horror.

We headed back out to the festival in time to watch the Toilet Bowl races. Unlike the Mac and Cheese Off the Toilet Bowl races just keep getting better. There were more entries this year and a lot of really creative vehicles even if some of them definitely were made less effective in actual speed due to their elaborate designs. My favorite was the one designed like an actual bathroom complete with claw foot tub. You can check out some of the racers in my photos.

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