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Budafest 2007Posted December 2, 2007, 1 a.m.
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Hays Highway Editor
BUDA – Despite dreary early morning weather, the 28th annual Budafest began Saturday without a hitch. While the gloomy sky almost certainly depressed the crowd and the event didn't set records into mid-afternoon, Budafest officials were, on the whole, pleased.
Said Budafest committee member James Berry, looking out over the Main Street greenbelt from the gazebo around 2 p.m. Saturday, "We've had Budafest where you could look out here and see a sea of heads. We don't see that right now, but we see a lot of people."
Berry said the event has drawn as many as 2,000 people on Saturday and 2,000 on Sunday. Foot traffic along Main Street, the greenbelt and City Park was moderately heavy for most of Saturday as attendees came and left. The number of people usually present up to the late afternoon appeared to be several hundred, perhaps 1,000 or so.
"As I've gone around, the food booths say they're doing okay, while the craft booths say they're doing very well," Berry said. "That tells me the crowd isn't very heavy because of how the food booths are doing, but that the people who are here are buying because of how the craft booths are doing."
Berry said more than 120 booths were running Saturday. At other Budafests, Berry said, the festival has run about ten more booths.
"A lot of times, people will come out on Saturday and look," Budafest Committee member Margaret Lutrick said. "Then, they'll come back on Sunday and buy."
In addition, foot traffic spilled into Main Street shops and restaurants on Main Street north of FM 967.
The Budafest Committee honored Lutrick with a plaque for her 22 years of booking and outfitting Santa Claus for the event. Lutrick said she will stay involved, but she will cut back in the future.
Lutrick said Santa has always appeared for free. Some candidates, she said, have asked for several hundred dollars through the years. They never made the cut.
"This will not be commercialized," Lutrick said. "I won't let it."
The usual traditions of Budafest transpired. Santa and Ms. Claus sat next to the gazebo talking asking children what they want for Christmas. Immediately after finishing their set, the Midnight Breeze belly dancers had their picture taken with Santa Claus.
Danny Levin, the Grammy-winning Buda musician formerly of Asleep at the Wheel, booked the music and took several turns on the stage with his fiddle. Levin wrangled a favor out of Dale Watson to play in the early afternoon. Fans pay cover charges to see Watson and his band perform at the Broken Spoke and the Continental Club, but Levin brought them in, basically for gas money. Budafest patrons could see Watson just for hanging out near the haystacks.
The Buda Library is running its annual book sale benefit, moving lightly circulating books and books donated by people in the community. The price: all the books a patron can fit into a plastic grocery bag for $5. A book glutton skilled at filling a grocery bag can walk out with 15 books.
Budafest began in 1980 as Main Street shop owners decided to stage a Christmas event on the greenbelt. Going back to the 1970s, the city, back then numbering fewer than 600 people, put on a football game between two local pick-up teams, the Maulers and the Cupids. Vendors would sell hot dogs. The Maulers were from Buda, while the Cupids were from parts known to old-timers as "the prairie." Relative newcomers would call it the East Side.
After the game, organizers put on a dance at the old Buda High School. Proceeds went to the city, which put the funds towards the purchase of City Park.
Budafest continues Sunday. As usual, organizers aren't sure what to expect.
"At Budafest, we've learned to shake our heads," Lutrick said. "We've seen it hot, we've seen it cold and we've seen it freezing rain so hard we had to move it back one or two weeks."
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