While visiting Switzerland as part of a study abroad program in 2003, I gained an affinity for Swiss culture. In the years since then I have heard rumblings about
Swiss Days, a two day event held annually in Midway over Labor Day weekend. This year we finally got around to checking it out.
Midway's town square was packed with rows and rows of booths selling crafts. Apparently the Swiss people have gained a good deal of crafting inspiration from Mormon women, because every third booth was selling cutesy wooden signs to promote your family's "forever" status. Meanwhile, our search for some toddler-sized lederhosen for Eddie came up empty.
On the performing stage, an ensemble of tween girls were singing traditional Swiss songs such as "Edelweiss," Abba's "Dancing Queen," and Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American."
By lunchtime we were hungry for some authentic Swiss cuisine. We tried the "world famous" Swiss tacos, which looked suspiciously like Navajo tacos. Other food vendors offered Swiss hamburgers, Swiss chicken sandwiches, and Swiss shaved ice, all of which bore a striking resemblance to their American counterparts.
In case you haven't been picking up on my undercurrent of sarcasm (how long have you been reading this blog now?), we found Swiss Days to be sort of underwhelming. I guess we were hoping for something more uniquely Swiss, rather than your standard county fair spruced up with Swiss flags and "wilkommen" signs.
Don't get me wrong, we still saw some cool stuff. One item in particular we wished we had an extra $350 to spend on was this wooden motorcycle rocker. Our frugal side won out however, and Eddie ended up with a much more modest $6 wooden truck.
Midway's town square was packed with rows and rows of booths selling crafts. Apparently the Swiss people have gained a good deal of crafting inspiration from Mormon women, because every third booth was selling cutesy wooden signs to promote your family's "forever" status. Meanwhile, our search for some toddler-sized lederhosen for Eddie came up empty.
On the performing stage, an ensemble of tween girls were singing traditional Swiss songs such as "Edelweiss," Abba's "Dancing Queen," and Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American."
By lunchtime we were hungry for some authentic Swiss cuisine. We tried the "world famous" Swiss tacos, which looked suspiciously like Navajo tacos. Other food vendors offered Swiss hamburgers, Swiss chicken sandwiches, and Swiss shaved ice, all of which bore a striking resemblance to their American counterparts.
In case you haven't been picking up on my undercurrent of sarcasm (how long have you been reading this blog now?), we found Swiss Days to be sort of underwhelming. I guess we were hoping for something more uniquely Swiss, rather than your standard county fair spruced up with Swiss flags and "wilkommen" signs.
Don't get me wrong, we still saw some cool stuff. One item in particular we wished we had an extra $350 to spend on was this wooden motorcycle rocker. Our frugal side won out however, and Eddie ended up with a much more modest $6 wooden truck.
4 comments:
I was there on Friday afternoon, when did you guys go? I only took advantage of their free "swiss" ice water that they offered!
We got there Saturday morning at about 10 am. We left a little after 1 pm, with our bellies full of "Swiss" tacos and a napless Eddie on the verge of a meltdown.
I love that motorcycle (Eddie's truck is almost as cool..)
I never knew that the Swiss were into tacos.
I've always been curious as to the authenticity of Swiss Days, so I'm glad you took one for the team and checked it out. That way I don't have to drive an hour up there to eat a Navajo taco. Kristina sold jewelry at the Dutch Days event at Thanksgiving Point, and I think was probably similar to your experience. Lots of non-dutch food vendors and a few people singing what might as well have been dutch karaoke.
-Cam
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