Another Swinging Thursday

Well, it's the first Thursday of a Summer month, so that means that 1/2 of Gay Street gets closed down to traffic to set up tents along the street for local merchants to sell their wares or tout their agendas. The air is filled with the lingering aroma of fried dough and BBQ Turkey legs, yet the Renaissance Faire is a couple of months away still. The sounds of R&B and Disco have the older and younger generations swaying to the beats of the live band. Young couples insist on negotiating the throngs of people with their seemingly self propelled, All Terrain, 4 Wheel drive strollers with the independent suspension, air bags, (and if I had my way, ejector seats. I mean really how cool would it be, prior to an impending collision, the sun shade blows off the top of the stroller, a rocket fires, and little Josh gets propelled 50 feet in the air, to be brought down gently by parachute? Am I the only one who thinks about that kind of thing? OK fine, whatever.)

I gather that the point of even having these things the first part of every month during the summer is to attract people, or in the case of the people who work in the town, keep people in the downtown area which helps the local businesses by extending the hours they can make money. Nothing wrong with that. The interesting part of these events is that they have brought out people with nothing to sell but ideas. The Chester County Young Democrats are out there, and so are the Young Republicans. In previous First Thursdays the Freethought Society of Philadelphia(a pro Atheist group) had a booth, and Amnesty International was there today.

Now I normally don't mind the fact that I have to kind of go out of my way in a crowd of people to avoid the "Free Spinal Alignment Check Booth" to keep from having someone put a sales brochure in my hand, but I guess I kind of skived out about having to avoid eye contact with someone who is earnestly and eagerly awaiting an opportunity to tell me why I should vote for somebody, or not vote for somebody, or why God doesn't exist, or how waterbording is terrible, or whatever it is. I don't think for a minute that they don't have a right to be there, au contraire, that's what I love about this town, the free exchange of thoughts and ideas in the public square, does it get any more American than that? Heck we even have protesters and counter-protesters dutifully show up like clock work, rain or shine, on the corner of High and Market at 11:00 am on Saturdays to hold up signs for an hour.

I guess I don't have an answer really, I mean I want all the little businesses to do well in this town, because that's what makes the quality of life living here so awesome. I also want people to be able to spout off whatever it is they believe in public, because I believe its a lot harder to spew venom and be so vitriolic like people will be on a blog then when you see these people in person and realize they are just that, people, kind, smiling, enthusiastic people who believe in a cause, against the war or for the troops, for tax cuts or for helping the less fortunate.

At the end of the day though, I'd like to just get my Funnel Cake and Turkey Leg in peace.