They had another of those University District Street Fairs last weekend, as they’ve had each year at this time for the past 37 years.

After all this time, there’s darned little to say about the event. Musicians played. Crafts items were sold. Political petitions were shoved in passersby’s faces. Food and beverages were consumed. Alternative-medical disciplines were hyped.

I hadn’t seen these craft items before–candles whch look like plastic replicas of food items (as seen in Japanese restaurant windows), and which smell like the original foods.

The U District Chamber of Commerce staged its first street fair way back in ’69. The intent was to show the rest of the city that The Ave was still an OK place, despite the presence of those longhair oddball types who looked like nothing many people had ever seen.

Today, the intent is to show the rest of the city that The Ave is still an OK place, despite the presence of pierced and spiky-haired kids who look almost precisely like pierced and spiky-haired kids looked in 1981.

Breakdancing wasn’t around when the street fair began lo those many years ago. But it’s become its own tradition by now.