It's the World Beer Festival, Baby

This past weekend was the World Beer Festival here in our hometown. A city square was fenced in and a couple hundred different brewers were present to pass out 2 ounces samples of their craft. Guy and I were interested in going, but not motivated to do so.

Not motivated, that is, until Boo called Saturday evening and offered us 2 tickets to go that night. Turns out it was $40 per person to get in, and they had 2 tickets that were going to go unused. We couldn't let that happen.

I strapped on the Moby and we headed downtown with Bird.

Yes, we took our 3 month old son to the World Beer Festival. We've both been to beer festivals before, and they were civilized events with a few drunk people here and there. Because really? It's completely lame to get plastered on 2 ounces of beer at a a time.

Little did we know, the people in our town are lame. And going to a beer festival in Europe? Slightly different than going to one here.

It was a drunk fest. As we made our way through the tent, some guy tried to offer Bird some beer. Even though he was just kidding, he got way too close for my comfort and my hand and arm came flailing up in defense. I was figuring out quickly that Bird and I needed to get out of the crowd and into the open night air to listen to the band while Guy got his tastes.

Outside, it was a beautiful night. It was warm, but there was a nice breeze blowing. The band sucked, but we were enjoying them anyway. As long as we stood away from the smokers, it was nice being out and about with Guy and Bird.

The strangest part of the whole night though was the varying reactions I received for having a 3 month old strapped to the front of me at the World Beer Festival. Most people were friendly and just cooed over him as they passed. A couple of moms stopped to talk baby and tell me about their kids that were at home. A few people got to hear Guy's joke that Bird was our designated driver.

What really got me though, was the drunk 20 something who stood with her friends and sneered to them as we walked past, "Is that allowed?"

I was being judged as a mother. I know it won't be the last time. It pissed me off, but not enough to waste any energy on it. I knew that I was taking care of my baby and doing something that Guy really wanted to do all at the same time.

If we had known how the event really was going to be, would we still have gone and taken Bird with us? Probably not because we both hate crowds. We got there, stayed for about 45 minutes, and then headed back to the house. It was a fun outing, and I'm proud of us for being spontaneous.

I hope when Miss Sneerybutt grows up and has kids of her own, she will remember that she is still allowed to go out and have some fun. I already feel a little sorry for her future children.