Art Walk

On Friday after supper, David and I left the house for a little drive. I'd seen an old brick house for sale that I knew David would like, so we set off for the north side of town to have a look. I don't want to mislead - we are NOT moving. I just like to look. I never ever stop looking. I've thought, although never seriously, about getting my realtor's license so I can snoop a little more effectively. But I digress...David realized that it was 1st Friday Art Walk downtown, so after admiring the old house (built in 1881), we drove by the square to see how many people were out. I convinced (whined and cajoled) David that we should park and walk around for a little while. There were tons of people milling around the square and surrounding area. We watched a couple of girls hula hoop (is that a verb?) for a while while a man played a guitar. It wasn't so much just twirling the hoop as some sort of interpretive dance that happened to include a hula hoop. I hadn't been in the new library downtown and it was open and full of people, so we wandered through. It's an interesting place - with strangely few books considering it's a library! There wascertainly a wide variety of humanity in that place. We went a few other places - the Gillioz Theatre, an eclectic shop called Ampersand, and the glass blowers shop - and were ready to call it a night. Rather than take the shorter route straight back to the car, we went back to the square for one last look. I was glad we did. The steady beat of drums began to gather a crowd as a young woman began to light some attachments to her hula hoop. I craned my neck to see over the crowd as yes, in fact, the girl began to hula hoop with the hoop on fire. It was amazing. Another crowd had gathered on the other side of the square, so we moved that direction to see why. A black and white dance floor had been set up with a small boom box next to it. Kids were dancing - break dancing maybe - taking turns in some sort of dance off. They were momentarily interrupted by a guy in a gold plastic full-body suit with a megaphone, but soon continued. We were among the oldest people in the crowd, but for a few minutes, we were a part of the youthful creative energy. It wasn't until we were back in the car and heading past strip malls and car dealerships that I realized how quiet the rest of the world seemed in comparison. We headed back to home, in the land ruled by SUVs and yard work. We're happy and comfortable here, but for just a little while I wondered what it would be like to be one of those fiery hula hoop wonders.