When my children were little, we took them to a lot of Fringe events, which only took place around Labor Day. We were living in Manhattan back then, but always loved Philly.

My 2 favorites were the toilet races under the Expressway. I had never seen toilets attached to bicycles. Not only that, the outfits and decorations for the toilets were fabulous. There were quite a few contestants in the race and they were really going fast while keeping their toilets attached.

The race took place around dusk. It was a cloudy day and there was quite a crowd under the expressway. The contestants and their toilets were brightly decorated. That race is pretty much permanently etched in my memory.

The other Fringe memory was when we all went to a gallery, somewhere near Race and 4th Street. This guy was showing everyone what he had in his cargo pant pockets. He had his belly button lint, He had maggots. Luckily they were packaged in plastic bags. It was amazing how engrossing it was to see the stuff from his cargo pant pockets and hear the history of every item.

We loved the Fringe Festival so much that we scheduled our vacation around your events.

Now my children are all grown. But my son lives in S. Philly and is the biggest promoter of Philadelphia. If it were up to him, everyone he loves would live in Philly.

Before 2005, in late August or early September
Lisa Kalus
Lisa Kalus Hendler