I had an action-packed day already planned for Saturday, but I gave in to my curiosities and decided to take an early trip up to the Thin Man Summer Solstice Street Festival. I had heard it on the radio, but I think I was in the same spot as everyone else – not knowing really what to expect. That block of Elmwood ave getting shut down, music, pig roast, beers – I mean..  It had all the makings of a great time.

This was the first time they’ve ever done this simply because this was their 1st anniversary party. Without a doubt, Thin Man isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so why not show off a little right? There were a couple small hiccups with this event, mainly entry and configuration, but that certainly didn’t interfere with enjoying the awesome day and having a great time at the event they put together. The main issue was that I wasn’t aware that there were tickets that had to be purchased for this party, and unfortunately, they were only being sold in the bar – by one bartender in a slow moving line that was tucked in with a madhouse of people. This was the line:

Hard to see, but the two girls on the left are walking back through the line to get out – the bartender with yellow text on his shirt was the only guy selling the tickets. The line was basically the people that you see in the left heavy 3rd of the photo. Once you purchased your ticket to the event, you had to decide at that moment, how many beer tickets you wanted to purchase. If you didn’t, you’d have to wait in the line again to get them – from him and him only so you could ‘purchase’ beer on the street. Each transaction took about 3-5 minutes depending on how indecisive the patron was, and if they were using a credit card to make their purchase. There were 3 girls handling the ‘will-call’ area, and I feel as though it should have been switched around. I can only imagine that this glitch was fixed before things really picked up. Like I said- I got there early because I had a full day planned.

Once out of the cluster, there was a good amount of room. The music was blasting super loud and the sun was shining on both sides of the street! It was 90 degrees out, and I wore pants like a jackass. The only sanctuary from the blasts of UV light was a tent set up at the end of the event. Unfortunately, right behind the tent was where they set up the generator that was running a portion of the stage’s electronics. I don’t want to sound like a bitter old man, but I couldn’t hear anything and found myself shouting to converse with my friends. I don’t have a problem with that, but there may have been a better area to set them up.

Oh and HEY – Buffalo News took our picture: 

We settled in pretty quickly, and the blasting PA system and generator became less of a nuisance. I really started enjoying myself and dreading the fact that I would have to leave this party to attend my next order of business (next blog). The beer was tasting so good, and I started getting hungry! Sure enough Thin Man had a serious food setup going – including a full pig roast. I wish I got a picture of it, but I was a little slow on the draw. I did however get some pics of the food:

Everything was incredible, and I could have stayed there and drank the rest of the night away at that event. I really do feel bad about my criticisms of the event, especially because I didn’t stay there for the whole thing. I want to without a doubt say that 100% look forward to attending the next anniversary party. What a great party.