People seem upset Apple Fest had a successful year...but isn't that the point?

Two  of our neighborhoods in Chicago, Lincoln Square and Ravenswood, had their shared annual Apple Fest this weekend. Nora and I love Apple Fest, catching the pet costume contest every year and then strolling to check out the vendors of both crafts and easy treats. Every prior year I have left disappointed by the absence of a proper apple cider donut, as vendors tend to offer fancier versions of said food. But this year, Daly's Donuts entered the chat with one of the best cinnamon-sugar covered apple cider donuts I've had in over a decade. So between the pet costumes and that discovery, Nora and I considered this year to be a success!

It appears many other feels it was too successful, as crowds packed Lincoln Avenues and traffic ground to a halt anywhere close the event. And many food vendors ran out of the most popular food items. Just like every other successful street fest. When you throw in the fact that this weekend was blessed with amazing weather, and that Apple Fest encouraged attendance through a lower entry fee than most other street tests, and none of the crowds that gathered seems that odd or alarming to me? And last time I checked, most of the complaints I hear is of under attendance at most street fests in recent years jeopardizing their existence as finance generators for a neighborhood. But I also understand that most coverage is going to steer towards easy outrage and avoid the pragmatic positives since that gets much easier engagement.

I keep waiting for the pendulum to swing back a bit as far as how online discourse runs, but until then I hope everyone reading this that feels inconvenienced by a public event tries to look at an entire situation and evaluate it before logging their complaints.