Octoberfest In Dayton Ohio

There are some things I miss now that I don't live in Dayton anymore. At the top of my list is seeing good friends I've made over the years. 

Every time I make it back to Dayton, during football season, I get to meet up with long time and new friends for beer, wings and Monday Night Football.  The group's been gathering on Monday night since the beginning of time. It's not really about football, its about sitting around with good friends in a friendly atmosphere and putting the world to rights. The composition of the group and the place changes a bit over time but, usually, once people start coming they stick around. 

I also love the Summer Festivals like the Strawberry Festival in Troy, the Blues Festival in Lebanon, the Greek Festival in Dayton, the Italian Festival in Kettering, the Renaissance Festival in Waynesville and the Octoberfest at the Dayton Art Museum .  There's always something to celebrate during the summer. 

If you'd like to see a list of festivals in the Dayton area you can visit Culture Works cultureworks.org/festivals/.  There are festivals to celebrate everything from the strawberries to sauerkraut to, of course, BACON.  If you exist and draw breath you can probably find something to celebrate in Dayton, Ohio.  

This year we made it just in time for Octoberfest; good beer - good music - fun festival food. They have a continuous roster of bands playing throughout the festival.  Spungewurthy was playing the day we went.  They are a very cool three man cover band that say they play mostly "dancey rock music".  I like that description.  They are fun and - yes - people do get up and get "dancey". We listened to the  music, ate some very unhealthy food, and wandered the arts and crafts booths. Overall it was a relaxing and fun afternoon.

While I was watching the band - no my knees won't let me get "dancey" any more - I notice that the Dayton skyline was beautiful in the background against a clear blue sky contrasting with what I know of the last 20 years when the whole area had been under construction. You used to see enough orange barrels, construction equipment, hard hats and yellow tape to canvas the entire city. I remember it all being an eye-sore and it lasted over half a generation. I was so impressed with the new and improved view, I wanted to capture the image.  So I did a drawing.  It's what I do.  Now I get to share it with you. 

I'll miss it when I leave here but there are new adventures to be had, places to go, people to see and more stuff to draw.  And ... like Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "I'll Be Back".

Have a very artsy day. 

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