Festival of the Lakes

I’ve grown up in this town, and the festival has always been a summer must-​go-​to. It has gotten much better through the years, with more recent and «want to see «artists. It’s always pricey when it comes to festival food/​games but that’s a given for all festivals.

It seems like when I was a kid, «Augustfest», as it was known back then, was so much hipper. But maybe that was because I used to like to go on all the carnival rides. Now, carnies scare me so I tend to stick to the food areas and beer gardens at festivals.
The food isn’t half-​bad at Hammond’s premier lakefront festival. They have some decent pizza from Stateline Pizza, some pretty good bbq, and deep-​fried twinkies and candy bars — my favorite summer fare. They also get pretty well-​known bands to play. Blues Traveler, Los Lonely Boys, and Smash Mouth headlined this year, along with some country bumpkins who are probably pretty popular, but Lord knows I haven’t heard them ever in my lifetime.
It’s also free admission… if you can bypass the $ 10 parking fee and park on a side street and then hoof it to the festival.
The bad? Well, like any carnival, you’ll have the typical carnival-​goers. You know the type. The «scaries». The 16-​year-​old toothless hillbillies dressed in an oversized No. 45 Jordan Bulls jersey, walking around with their 3 kids. They just make the whole festival seem seedy. However, i guess they appear at any fest so you can’t really avoid them.
So basically, if you want to see free shows, then this is the festival for you. I went over the weekend and saw Smash Mouth really kick it.