By Paul Bendix
About this blog: A 32-year resident of Menlo Park, I regularly make my way around downtown in a wheelchair. This gives me an unusual perspective on a town in which I have spent almost half of my life. I was educated at UC Berkeley, and permanentl...
(More)About this blog: A 32-year resident of Menlo Park, I regularly make my way around downtown in a wheelchair. This gives me an unusual perspective on a town in which I have spent almost half of my life. I was educated at UC Berkeley, and permanently injured there in a 1968 mugging. Half paralyzed at 21, it took me 11 years to find full-time work. A high-tech job drew me to the Peninsula in the early 1980s. After years as a high-tech marketing writer, I retired and published my own book, Dance Without Steps (Oliver Press, New York, 2012). Having long aspired to café society, I frequent Peet's on Santa Cruz Avenue. Rolling through our downtown, I reflect on my own life - which I have restarted several times. My wife died in 2009. I remarried in July, 2013.
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It's reliably enjoyable, not to mention multifaceted and diverse...Menlo Park's public event of the year, the Connoisseur's Marketplace. And it's happening this Saturday and Sunday, 19-20 July.
Actually, it is all positive, this July weekend that annually draws several thousand people to Menlo Park's otherwise sleepy downtown. The outdoor festival showcases regional artisans and displays their work to highly entertaining effect. It's even a chance to hear good music, get your face painted and meet members of the Menlo Park Police. Incredibly, the whole affair is well organized and well run. So what could possibly be wrong?
The name. Can't we find another? I would say that almost everyone flocks to the Connoisseur's Marketplace...except connoisseurs. The street fair is much more than a marketplace. And there's nothing in the name that gives credit to our fair city, Menlo Park.
Isn't there a better name for this, our largest civic gathering? I am most think that the subtitle, "Menlo Park's Mid-Summer Festival of the Arts," would serve us better.
What do you think?
