Le Fete de Marquette

I finally made it last night to the second of Madison's great music festivals, la Fete de Marquette. This festival, near Bastille Day, is a Francophile musical celebration. The first band I heard was Maraca, from Cuba/Paris. In short order they drove me crazy. The music was a lot like Soukous or kwassa kwassa, and the repetitiveness of it grates on me after about 20 minutes (or half their stage time). No worries, it drove me to wander and take photographs.



It is a large, free festival and there is a lot to see if people-watching is your idea of entertainment. For a brief while it seemed like it was going to rain and spoil the evening, but as the sun set it became obvious that it was going to clear up. It also made for a dynamite sunset!



As the last light was in the sky, I went back over to the 1930's vintage Ferris Wheel and took a few more shots. This one has a little bit of flash added to pop the color a bit.



The two prior nights had both been late - well after midnight - so I faded fast and departed before the final act finished playing. It was a fun night and I was glad to be there and see a lot of friends. And strangely enough, I did not even have a beer (but I did have ice cream).

Ahh, summer!