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September 7, 2013 - Dally in the Alley
Although there was some light rain earlier in the day you couldn’t tell it at the 36th annual Dally in the Alley in the Cass Corridor, near Wayne State University. The place was crawling with festival goers that did a great job of representing every possible human type and age; in other words, it was awesome.
As soon as we entered the event, in addition to the usual rows of local vendors, we noticed a really nice wooden bench, with people clustered around and signing it with various colors of Sharpies. The people from Sit on it Detroit were there, making benches for bus stops and letting people sign the benches that were already made. The benches are being made out of reclaimed wood from abandoned houses and businesses within Detroit. Each bench has a built in bookshelf with a plexiglass covering. An initial donation of books will stock the shelves and citizens are encouraged to read, borrow, and donate books. The network of benches will act as a free library.
New this year were the “Detroit Is…” boards. People were walking around with sandwich boards on their backs, asking people to sign them and fill in the blank for “Detroit Is…” with Magic Markers (or some derivative of Magic Markers). Also new this year was the Dragonmead beer stand behind Dangerously Delicious Pies. This caused us to split our libation efforts between Motor City Brewing’s Ghettoblaster, available in the alley, and Under the Kilt, Wee Heavy from Dragonmead! Both are highly recommended, in moderation of course. There is also a section for the kids, be sure to look for it. Perhaps you should find it before hitting the beer, or perhaps not if you like challenges.
The Free Advice people were in the alley across from the beer stand this year, also the Free Hug guy. Everyone could probably use a little, or a lot, of both and the price is right! There appeared to be more vendors this year than in recent years, and it was nice to see some new ones. Please support the Alley and its organizers, the North Cass Community Union, by buying your food and drink products onsite. Not cool to BYOB, because the proceeds from the drinks go to all sorts of charitable works in the Cass Corridor area. If you do BYOB, you might be outed (no, not that way, for the BYOB).
Besides people watching, and this is one of the best festivals for that, there are vendors set up with food, clothing, incense, you name it. There is music on 5 stages, the Forest Stage, Alley Stage, Garden Stage, Electronic Stage, and the Ann Kennedy Community Stage. Dally gear is available, t-shirts and such and, did we mention, beer? One addition we’d like to see is the Dally offering Coke at the beer booths next year. One of us is a teetotaler and keeps wanting this to happen; she wants Coke, not Pepsi, sorry Pepsi (although I’d buy some Mountain Dew). I’m guessing that Faygo Cola would be suitable and better because LOCAL.
This was one of the best Dally’s in recent memory and we had a great time; already looking forward to next year. More information about Dally in the Alley can be found at the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/dallyinthealley
http://dallyinthealley.com/
http://sitonitdetroit.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sit-On-It-Detroit/537667869623852
As soon as we entered the event, in addition to the usual rows of local vendors, we noticed a really nice wooden bench, with people clustered around and signing it with various colors of Sharpies. The people from Sit on it Detroit were there, making benches for bus stops and letting people sign the benches that were already made. The benches are being made out of reclaimed wood from abandoned houses and businesses within Detroit. Each bench has a built in bookshelf with a plexiglass covering. An initial donation of books will stock the shelves and citizens are encouraged to read, borrow, and donate books. The network of benches will act as a free library.
New this year were the “Detroit Is…” boards. People were walking around with sandwich boards on their backs, asking people to sign them and fill in the blank for “Detroit Is…” with Magic Markers (or some derivative of Magic Markers). Also new this year was the Dragonmead beer stand behind Dangerously Delicious Pies. This caused us to split our libation efforts between Motor City Brewing’s Ghettoblaster, available in the alley, and Under the Kilt, Wee Heavy from Dragonmead! Both are highly recommended, in moderation of course. There is also a section for the kids, be sure to look for it. Perhaps you should find it before hitting the beer, or perhaps not if you like challenges.
The Free Advice people were in the alley across from the beer stand this year, also the Free Hug guy. Everyone could probably use a little, or a lot, of both and the price is right! There appeared to be more vendors this year than in recent years, and it was nice to see some new ones. Please support the Alley and its organizers, the North Cass Community Union, by buying your food and drink products onsite. Not cool to BYOB, because the proceeds from the drinks go to all sorts of charitable works in the Cass Corridor area. If you do BYOB, you might be outed (no, not that way, for the BYOB).
Besides people watching, and this is one of the best festivals for that, there are vendors set up with food, clothing, incense, you name it. There is music on 5 stages, the Forest Stage, Alley Stage, Garden Stage, Electronic Stage, and the Ann Kennedy Community Stage. Dally gear is available, t-shirts and such and, did we mention, beer? One addition we’d like to see is the Dally offering Coke at the beer booths next year. One of us is a teetotaler and keeps wanting this to happen; she wants Coke, not Pepsi, sorry Pepsi (although I’d buy some Mountain Dew). I’m guessing that Faygo Cola would be suitable and better because LOCAL.
This was one of the best Dally’s in recent memory and we had a great time; already looking forward to next year. More information about Dally in the Alley can be found at the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/dallyinthealley
http://dallyinthealley.com/
http://sitonitdetroit.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sit-On-It-Detroit/537667869623852
