As I mentioned Sunday, we were planning on heading out to the first (of many, hopefully) Mosselfestival right here in our own neighborhood. Horeca Lucas Bolwerk (a collection of bars and cafés in the neighborhood) organized this lovely mussels festival. It ran for about seven hours in total and seemed to have a fairly constant stream of attendees. We went shortly after 2 p.m. and were immediately struck by the delicious smells emanating from the pots of cooking mussels.
We soon grabbed a couple of portions, which were quite generous, and picked up a couple of beers from the De Leckere Brewery stall. The mussells were beautifully seasoned and cooked. Just a nice kick of pepper and lots of natural flavor. I was really impressed with just how well they were done for such an event.
The street was closed to traffic, so they were able to set out lots of tables on the street, each table with its own garbage bag to keep things neat and clean. There was an accordion player wandering among the tables, and there was a bouncy castle for kids to play in. Sadly, there were no special play areas for the dogs we saw there. They were kept entertained by the possibility of stray mussels, I guess!
I joked with G that I guess this was a bit like a Dutch version of a crawfish boil or a New England clam bake. The women working at the mussels stall were all wearing old-fashioned lace caps — along with t-shirts and jeans! It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and a nice breeze, and by the end of the day, all the trash was cleaned up and neatly piled away for the garbage collectors the next morning. All in all, it seemed like a success.
A Flamingo in Utrecht 
Looks like you guys had a great day out. I do love those local events. When I was in Masstricht there was some kind of beer festival and some people were walking around dressed as a beer barrel! I wish I could find the photo I took.
I saw your flicker feed before and I thought it was a funny sequence. You noticed some food on the table *click*, some people chatting *click*, a bicycle *click*, a dog *click* *click* *click* *click*.. .. 😀
A beer festival sounds like fun! Have you seen the beer bicycles? They’re kind of like carts where each person peddles and you drink beer as you go. Strange!
As for the photos, I realized afterward that I didn’t get many shots of the mussels, but they smelled so good I couldn’t wait to eat them and they were gone very quickly! The bicycles, dogs, etc., are just normal, festival or not. 😉
Is it just me or doesn’t it seem as though the Dutch really like their festivals?!? There are always several options to choose from regardless of season. Gezellig!
It reminds me of when I was living in Manhattan. There was always some sort of street festival going on. Sadly, the ones here don’t have those cheese cornbread thingies that I don’t remember the name of but loved so much. 🙂 There’s a fair/festival going on this week in Utrecht, but the weather is killing it. Such a shame, because I’ve wanted to go for the past couple of years, but never caught it in time.