Mad Munch Grilled Cheezer Co.

Follow the story below of Mad Munch: It's long strange trip from the prairies of Illinois to the sunny shores of Ocean Beach, San Diego....

27 January 2025

The Escondido Street Fair Experience

Another Sunday street fair for Mad Munch landed us in Escondido in mid-October.  It was a beautiful morning setting up just off of Grand Avenue under a row of palm trees.


Kate & I were happy that this fair was both shorter (9:30am-5:30pm) & the fee smaller ($350) than most of the others.  I did the math ahead of time, filled out my "Street Fair Grocery List" & we rolled into town with 27 loaves.  Our overhead with the fee was around $800, a few hundred less than the first three we had already done.   

But, by this point we had mixed feelings about setting up at these giant community gatherings.  Besides doing the OB Street Fair where we lived, we felt that these events wouldn't gain us many return customers or help build much recognition for Mad Munch.  

It felt like a being at a carnival.  There were plenty of banners, but with no personality, just, CORN DOGS, ELOTE, TACOS, BURGERS, COTTON CANDY, in large caps.  It's like we were playing in a game that we didn't know all of the rules to.

And street fairs don't always bring out the best in people.  I think it's the large crowds, being in the sun too long & waiting to be hangry before you decide where/what food to order.

"Oh, God!" a lady yelled, spitting out part of her Cheezer in the grass.  "What is this?  You ordered bacon?  I didn't want bacon!"

She was yelling at her daughter or a young lady that could have been her daughter's age.  

"Yeah, she ordered a Bacon Street," Kate said when they both looked at us for some kind of answer.  One of the two sandwiches that we offered on our street fair menu.  

"Oh, well I didn't want bacon.  I can't have it." the older woman said in disgust.  What seemed like five minutes of awkwardness then cast a shadow over the whole situation.  Then she said, "I want my money back, this isn't what I wanted."

So rather than explain to her that she was a moron who couldn't read clearly written marker on poster board, we reluctantly refunded her $7 & tossed the rest of her Bacon Street in the trash.  The entire transaction summed up our day out there & our feelings about selling at street fairs in general.

I was just glad we had only committed to only two more of them, one in Carlsbad & another in Encinitas.  Closer to the Pacific Ocean, where presumably, someone wouldn't throw a fit over bacon or spending seven dollars.        

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