Tribal Necklaces....Beer Festival

Dear reader, I confess: until yesterday, I had never before attended a beer festival. While I expected to discover a new ale or two, I did not expect to discover that beer festival attendees are a bit of a tribe, with their own distinctive clothing and accessories.  But it is, in fact, the case. Of most interest to me were the pretzel necklaces, which reminded me somewhat of the adornments worn by Masai tribespeople.  Above, you see a man who has festooned himself with fat pretzels and leftover Christmas ribbons.

Here, the size of the necklaces seems to indicate that snacks to go with beer will be required to last some several days, no? Delightful! I like the variety of pretzels these two women chose to use.  They were quite good-natured about letting me photograph them.

A modest pretzel necklace pairs well with a bow tie, I think. I could see myself wearing something like this. This handsome young fellow was working, and I liked the way he'd gotten into the spirit of the day.

If like me, you were not in-the-know about this pretzel necklace business, you could redeem yourself by purchasing a kit.

 

Below, you see a volunteer for Columbia Opportunity Resource with one of the kits. No doubt, she is explaining that the preztels were placed in the ziplock bag by someone with very clean hands.

Were you to assemble one of these kits, I believe you might wind up with something similar to the necklaces these friends were sporting.

  

Portable snacking is only useful for so long.  Eventually, an old fellow just needs to take his pretzels and sit down.  I found a spot on the floor in the corner.

I'd like to tell you these are my plimsolls and socks--but no, they belong to my much younger (but just as weary) companion and guide.