Los Angeles has become widely known over the last century as the ultimate dream factory, a magical place where fully realized environments, from Santa's Village to a medieval castle, can be created within a soundstage over a matter of days.
But if you were to say to someone "no way can the authentic feel of a country fair, the kind found an hour or two outside the city, pop up in the city's busy heart," well, that someone wouldn't buy what you're selling, no way, no how.
And yet? That's just what happens each autumn, though, at Third & Fairfax, when the Original Farmers Market hosts another Fall Festival.
We said "another" there, and we should clarify there've been a whole bunch of "anothers" where this particular festival is concerned: It is marking its 82nd go-around in 2016, which is some mighty impressive longevity for any sort of celebration.
That this celebration is as free as a country breeze adds to its overall-wearing, piggy-cute cachet, and that it does deliver the aforementioned "fully realized environment," without the benefit of a soundstage or a Hollywood designer, is a tribute to the big heart and skilled craftsmanship the Farmers Market crew bring to the bash.
A bash that has all of the homey hallmarks of an in-the-farmland hoedown, from pie-eating to the playing of banjos and washboards to wool spinning to pig races to a trick roping cowboy-slash-humorist.
We mean, c'mon, wool spinning. In the middle of LA? Is this a beautiful dream? It's not: Be there on Saturday, Oct. 15 and Sunday, Oct. 16 to get your wheel action on.
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Well, Farmers Market can't fully dispatch the city bustle that's found outside its awning-shady entrances, but it can momentarily transport a person, in yeehaw-esque spirit, to a patch of countryside, complete with all of the things that lend a patch of countryside so much flavor, particularly come the fall.
The leaves are juuust starting to seriously consider doing their turning thing around Southern California, but the spirit of autumn is out in a full, jamboree-joyful, wear-your-gingham display smack in the middle of the city.
Call it another enchanting element of LA's larger dream factory, the Original Farmers Market and its historic Fall Festival. And you don't even need a drive-on pass to visit the studio lot to gain entrance: A fully realized environment of the most pleasing variety is right there, at Third & Fairfax, as it has been for over eight decades.
