Oh good grief! Does the phrase "lighten up" mean anything to ya, hon?

There is nothing condescending or insulting about the Honfest. It is a celebration of what makes Baltimore unique.

I am not a hon by birth and none of my relatives are, either. However, I grew up here in MD and I have known many hons.

I'm attending Honfest tomorrow in full hon regalia. Now if I could just figure out how to get my hair into that trademark beehive... hon..

Welcome to Bawlmer, hon!

To be parodied by others is bad, to parody oneself is worse.

I agree with the lighten up comment. I love the the Hons of Ballmer. I grew up in Ballmer and if this is a memory we can hold on to...hold on! Besides, I would rather see pictures of beehives and poodle skirts than dead bodies, drug addicts and dirty streets. This is good attention and Baltimore surely could do with some.

It has always seemed more mockery than celebration. As usual, I'll be voting with my wallet, enjoying a great weekend elsewhere.

I agree with GB. Honfest not only celebrates Baltimore's uniqueness, it celebrates Hampden's uniqueness. I imagine that its original intent 'way back when was for Hampdenites to celebrate what makes Hampden ... well, Hampden. Yes, it's grown to a monster, but isn't that what happens to many good neighborhood celebrations? The only fair I know of that has shrunk steadily over the past few years is the German Festival, which is now two days at Timonium Fairgrounds instead of three days in Carroll Park. I say, "Rock on, Hons!"

I hope that when somebody like Dan, who has shown how much he cares about the citizens of Baltimore, is critical of the played-out Honfest and it's ignorant stereotypes, it will make people think about what Honfest represents. Would you like it if people who make 5 times as much as you drive up from DC in their BMWs, dress up like your Grandma, and make fools of themselves in front of her house?

Remember, back in the early to mid-90s, when someone placed a "HON" banner under the "Welcome to Baltimore" sign that was located in the B/W Parkway median? Didn't most residents favor permanently affixing the "HON" sign because they considered it to be a celebration of the "Bawlmer" lifestyle and not a mockery?

DR: Yes, but . . . .
Women decried it as sexist and African-Americans decried it as a relic from a time when black women were demeaned by the term . . . and Mayor Schmoke said no.

Most of my female relatives are or were "hons". Many of them are dead now.

I don't have a problem with a kitchy, silly festival. It celebrates the charm of what we used to be, and increasingly are less of.

I think anyone who is seriously bothered by Honfest is afflcited by two other old Baltimore traits: Low self-esteem and a persecution complex.

I have to agree with Jesse in Jarrettsville.

Just as Michael Kinsley so aptly put it: the politics of umbrage. We're living in an age of umbrage.

Good god, people, it's a festival. It's fun. It's harmless. It's a celebration, not a denigration, of what makes Baltimore unique, charming, lovable, and, mercifully, unlike our neighbor a stone's throw and world away: Washington, D.C., where the pretentious, the puffed-up, and the self-important reign supreme. Yes, Jesse from Jarrettsville, I would like it if Washingtonians drove up in their BMWs or whatever else and participated in this wonderful, good-natured festival. I love the real Hons of Baltimore and I love the splendor of Honfest.

Good grief, next thing you know people will be objecting to draq queen parades and ethnic festivals (oh, that's right -- they already do).

ya know...with all the stuff going in the world now, a little hon fest would be a welcomed relief. have some fun, have a rc cola and please refrain from smoking around the beehives. aquanet is highly combustable.

Struck a chord here Dan. Down in New Orleans the old school white working-class people were dubbed "Y'ats" and they talk in a distinct, almost Brooklyn like accent that comes when Italians, Irish, Jewish, Germans and other Euro-centric ethnicities learn English together. But there was no gentrified part of the Big Easy trying to create "Y'at Fest". Or how bout Boston? Is there a Southie Fest I haven't heard of?

As you said, it does business and keeps the local Hampden economy going, so what's to argue? But don't be surprised at the cold shoulder you may receive from old school Baltimore folks down on 36th St. Hons should be revered, not mocked.

Au contraire, mobtown999, learning to laugh at oneself is one of life's great lessons. (But I'm just a leftist liberal feminist elitist who thinks Honfest is fantastic.)

Hey, lighten up is right!
I grew up here. My poppop used to wersh his hands in the zink. My mommom carried a pockeybook. And I lived off Blair Rd. It's fun. It's unique. And if we all tried to live as HONs maybe Balmer wouldn't be ranked as one of the least courteous cities.
Also is imitation the highest form of flattery.

To all you people out there saying "lighten up." Fine. Have a good time at the festival. But you should do something a little different this year. Walk two blocks away from 36th street and observe the true Hampdenites on their porches, leaning over the railings down the street at all the yuppies mocking them. Good times. It is what opened my eyes to the vileness of this retarded festival.

You know what would make a great festival? If a bunch of Hons and their ilk drove up into yuppie neighborhoods in the suburbs, and mocked middle class scum for being middle class scum.

Wine and cheese bowling anyone?

My father isn't a hon. But his five sisters, both of his parents, every cousin of his I've ever met, and all of their now-family-level friends sure are.

I've never heard a single one of them mention being offended by people mimicking the accent. Never.

But, clearly that isn't what this is about. All of the backlash to honfest can be easily attributed to many people's favorite pastime: the competition of hip. HonFest is growing in popularity every year. New people from D.C., Philly, and New York are the attendees. The uber-hipsters of Baltimore have decided this is no longer "cool," so they've contacted an elaborate rouse to convince us all that the whole thing is "offensive."

Silly.

This is what happens when upscale, no identity, suburbanites move into the city. Hon's is a part of Baltimore just as the crab is to Maryland.
Those of us that are born and raised here can appreciate the cultures that make Baltimore what it is and not be offended by it. John Walters ought to be asshame of himself given the battles that he's had to fight in life.
I guess you implants will want the marble steps and formstone removed next.

I'm from Hollentawne (2nd generation), not Hamden but missed the accent and the beehive somehow. And while I've never Hon'd, I guess I've always viewed the festival as a fun, quirky celebration of Baltimore's uniqueness. The people I know who go aren't middle class scum; they're generally scraping the poverty line artists and people who think mimicking the local culture is a way of keeping it alive. To them "generic" is the enemy and that's the point.

HOWEVER...I work for a self-proclaimed liberal who is a guest each year at a "White Trash Picnic," where local corporate executives search Value Village for velour track suits and the women don sweat pants with "Juicy" on the butt. They drink Pabst and laugh it up about the fun of pretending they're poor (with the prerequisite bad taste). What a laugh riot...or so I hear each year.

There's a schism widening in this country between the haves and have-lesses. It wouldn't kill us to spend a few seconds making sure we're really celebrating/honoring other people with events like Hon Fest and not mocking people for being who they are. Yes, this may be an overreaction; but overreaction is generally in the eye of the beholder. All it takes is to have your heritage, taste, or culture mocked to suddenly see it another way.

The appeal of kitsch is always a bit condescending. Waters is just pissed that it became popular beyond his cult movie level.

The king of bad taste needs to quit whining. I guarantee that that the majority of the people at honfest love Baltimore as much as he does. It's a silly celebration of the city and the past, and I think those outraged by it are really just angry at all the young whippersnappers in life who are on their lawns these days.

I pretty much feel the same way about Honfest as I do about AVAM. They are both elbows in the ribs, and a wink of the eye that says, "get it?" And, mostly, it's an easy way to make middle and upper middle class people who are so concerned with their social status to have an easy way to feel superior.

I'm sure someone will say 'lighten up,' so I will and say that festivals are good for the City overall.....But, count me out of this one.

btw, eebmore: couldn't agree more! Please let me know if there's ever a fest that takes on suburbanites---although I can't imagine that I could stomach it.

I get how this is a class thing- it mocks working class Baltimoreans and many people, particularly the working class Baltimoreans of today, find that offensive. The Hons of yesteryear had husbands with union jobs at Beth steel, stayed home with the kids and could afford a trip to the beauty shop every week not to mention a vacation downy ocean every summer - because you could live a fine life in Baltimore rowhouse on one income then! Things are so much different now, maybe that's why this particular bit of nostalgia just ain't that much fun anymore.

Lots of class warfare going on here.

Doesn't make anyone look good.

If the Hons ain't laughing, then it isn't funny any more. I've never been to a Hon fest, but it sounds stupid, and a complete waste of time. If you are suggesting people "lighten up" so you can continue your dumb-faced amusement, well that says a lot about people's care towards other's sensivities. If the Hons were black, this would be over. If the Hons were Jewish, this would be over. But there just a bunch of dumb, white Baltimoreans. So I guess that makes it OK.

Mr. Rick, the Hons are, in fact, laughing -- all the way to the bank. I love how this is being portrayed as some kind of upper-middle-class conspiracy to condescend to the lower classes.

Hate to break it to you, but Denise Whiting, the founder of the festival, is a working-class white woman. She's a self-made entrepreneur who runs her own business. She's one of the people who's done the most to jump-start business and community investment in Hampden, bringing thousands of customers to The Avenue, an area that was, 20 years ago, deteriorating. So how is it possible that this proud businesswoman is somehow dissing the locals? She IS a local.

But then I guess we should be offended at "Get Smart" because it parodies hardworking spies and intelligence agents -- this, in the age of 9/11. Or perhaps we should tsk-tsk at Mel Brooks -- after all, he parodies cowboys, Jews, blacks, soldiers, showgirls, and sheriffs, all in one fell swoop. Parody -- what a sin. Oh, the horror!

By the way, love the idea of wine-and-cheese bowling. Build it and they will come!

oh, ellen, AVAM bores me soooo many ways. Noncontextual art... ppptttttccchhh. Oh look, more paintings of pot leafs. whoopy.

But yes, like you, if it brings money in, so be it. It just isn't for me. But like Rodricks, I thought Honfest was amusing... once.

I'm not screaming "victim" or anything. I don't care THAT much. The concept is just vulgar. If I saw one or two true Hons in the crowd, I might feel differently. It isn't Baltimore poking lightly at itself, it is middle class Baltimore poking lightly at working class baltimore.

I'm still loving the idea of wine and cheese bowling. Wine bottles... a big wheel of gouda...

I'm just up the road in New York now, but I sure miss a cheery "Hi, Hon!" now and then.......

The thing that endears Honfest to me is that shows Baltimore doesn't take itself too seriously.

We're not New York or Philly or DC and don't pretend to be.

Baltimore is a wonderful, eclectic, and flawed place that accepts all comers. It's these sorts of celebrations that, to me, help keep the city and its people grounded. And if even for just a day or two, completely united.

All I can say is that all this Hon-mania is much preferable to the Hampden I grew up in during the 80s and early 90s. At least you can get coffee there now! :)

DR: No coffee pre-Hon? Are you kidding? What about Mike's? What about the Roland? What about all those years Tommy Thompson and Rosemary had the Coffee Mill on Chestnut?

"Women decried it as sexist and African-Americans decried it as a relic from a time when black women were demeaned by the term . . . and Mayor Schmoke said no."

What women? What African Americans? You make it sound like there was a consensus, when it was really just a mayor engaged in a power struggle and a few vocal crackpots who show up in every political discussion. The overwhelming majority of the populace found the idea that Hon is "racist" and "sexist" completely laughable. But then again, reasonable people's opinions are rarely interesting enough to garner front-page attention.

DR: I merely explained what happened to the proposal to make it part of the city's official greeting. That's what happened. You can look it up.

I know this was yesterday's topic, but I was thinking it today while walking my dogs to the park. While on my way, I passed the house of a longtime neighborhood resident, Miss B. (Yes. Everyone calls here "Miss First Name.") She could be easily caricatured: hanging out on the bench in front of her house, in her house dress and the one curler that never leaves her forehead, and her little tiny barking dog that runs up and down the block, always miraculous stopping at the curb.

And, guess what? She's a cherished 'hood resident, who takes in her neighbor's packages, and waters their plants and takes in the mail when they're away, and babysits during the day. In fact, if anyone would mock her, they'd hear from, well, everyone else in the 'hood.

So, it occurs to me that people who are donning their oh so ironic curlers and beehives and spandex never have known a Hon. They are mocking some ideal about which they know nothing. It's mocking a caricature of a caricature. Pretty pathetic if you ask me, although sort of fascinating from a post-modern kinda standpoint.

This isn't about Hampden changing to a place where one an get a sandwich from locally sourced, grass fed cow, or drink a latte, or get an organic haircut. Cities are always in flux--fine. But, there's something else about mocking the very idea of residents who may or may not have existed. That said, I miss the old City Fairs!

Well, I did see the true Hampendites hanging over their rails. Big deal. This isn't about a class warfare. If the real Hampdenites don't want to walk the two blocks to attend the festival, it's their loss.

I had a blast and so did many other people. If a festival brings people like me from the suburbs, what's the big deal??

Hampden today is a much different place than it was 40 years ago. Along with the poor, working class, there is a definite middle class. It's nice to see everyone getting along.

If you look at the social anthropology of Baltimore, the beehive hairdo, "hon" subset was not confined to, nor really an outgrowth of, Hampden. This was really an East Baltimore subset--Etta Gowns was on Eastern Ave. not 36th St. Hampden, back in the heyday of the beehive, was a hardedged enclave of white working class people who prinicipally supported themselves working in the mills along the Jones Falls--they were folks who had come up from Applachia, mostly, and who were able to replicate their way of life in Hampden because, geographically, it was largely cut off from the rest of the city by the Jones Falls, Wyman Park, etc. The whole Hon Fest thing, as it relates to Hampden, is about as real as a Renaissance Faire. And, yes, I am a Hampden homeowner.

What Honfest represents:

A chance to promote Cafe Hon, and get other people to pay for the privilege.

Seriously, it was fun for a while. But the whole thing is becoming its own self-mockery, much like the kazillion variations of Elvis impersonators. I would never see a British festival commemorating the so-called "Pepperpots" women satirized by Monty Python's Flying Circus (which is a perfect parallel to the Hons--the rollers in the hair, dowdy housecoats, etc.); similarly I don't think a festival "commemorating" hayseeds and slack-jawed yokels of the American South would go over very well today, "Hee Haw" notwithstanding.

I agree that this is mostly a commercial promotion for Cafe Hon that disguises itself as a grass roots street festival. Is it a coincidence that Cafe Hon is the only local business shown on the official festival maps?

I think it's important to separate the owner of Cafe' Hon and the rest of the Avenue. I think her whole "I saved Hampden" thing is total bunk. Where was it going to go? From what I remember, Hampden was never in any danger of vanishing. She doesn't even LIVE here. The Avenue would be like the old one if not for other businesses that filled it in. It's not like an over-priced, glorified diner can save a neighborhood just because a few people from the area work there.

If she's ever helped Hampden at all, it was a side-effect of running her business. She didn't even give non-profits special rates for Hon Fest tables. Or use local breweries, since they could not pay enough. Sure, festivals cost money. But did this one cost THAT much, i.e., ALL the money she made? To be true to the Baltimore theme, one would think all the businesses involved would be local. It would be possible.

There was VERY little even fake Baltimore-ania to this year's festival. It was the same stuff that's at every festival, minus the poorly-placed stage and insulting prancing. Alex is right that such a display making fun of Southerners would not go over well. I'm surprised so many people tolerate this.

Saying "lighten up" is no defense. Just because someone tells us that it's meant in good fun, that does not mean that we have to take it that way. What kind of logic is that? Racists use that logic all the time. "What? I thought blackface was funny. What are you upset about?" This whole Hon thing is poking fun at people who are barely even around to defend themselves anymore. And when people who live in Lutherville run the show, it smells fake all the way from the Beltway.

And, I'm sorry, but whoever said that everyone "gets along" in Hampden now has never been off The Avenue. It's getting nasty, though it seldom makes the news.

Why are people so uptight about differences in each other? I just don't get it!

Since I have moved to Baltimore, I like all the different neighborhoods, and the quirky festivals and celebrations. I don't understand them all, but they have been fun and the people way nicer than in D.C.. I think people should really try to understand the history of things they may find strange or weird, before passing difference. Heck, I faked for years about liking sushi in D.C....I don't like raw fish, and in Baltimore, I don't "have" to like it, and I can still hang out in a sushi bar (I love XS). So lighten up. We all have our quirks. The thing about Baltimore is that no one is ashamed of them, they are celebrated, and that makes it a lot easier to love yourself and other folks...Hon!

wallace, you're right about baltimore, all the way. but we're not arguing about quirks. we're upset about one person capitalizing on a negative stereotype.

1. So many good times I've had have been in marginal bad taste: two hillbilly festivals (one in WVa one in Kentucky)...and, yes, there were locals with blacked-out teeth. Despite what some have said on this board, there are southerners with a sense of humor; Any St. Paddy's Day celebration...always celebrating the best of Irish culture, right? I don't seem to recall reading Yeats while downing a few pints.
2. The only "Hon" I get to speak to regularly is the most wonderfully self-deprecating woman I've ever known. She laughs at herself, and the old days, more than you can imagine. The only reason she wouldn't go to Honfest herself is because it is "to damn hot under the wig".
3. If you're really upset about one woman capitalizing on a festival people seem to like, fire up your own entrepreneurial spirit and counter it.

Honfest a celebration of old time Hampden? Don't think so. A friend of mine, an attorney from the suburbs, said of Hampden in the 70s, "You know, that's the only all white neighborhood I've ever been in where I was really afraid." He said this after a visit where he saw a guy, blood coming from his skull, walking down the street saying to an acquaintance, "They threw me outta the truck an' I bust my **#& head open." Then, of course, there were the fights and near riots when the first African-American students came to school in the neighborhood. I think that was in the 80s. A celebration of genuine old time Hampden would be real interesting for the folks from Timonium. Not that they would come more than once.

I am a life long Hampden resident who happens to avoid Honfest at all cost. I think it is just a way to promote Cafe Hon and make alot of money doing so. She doesn't even care about her neighbors enough to see how inconvenient her two day festival can be on many of us.It wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit if she packed up her restaurant and festival and moved them to her neighborhood.Hampden survived without her before and we will do it after she is out of here!!!

My favorite comment in this entire long thread was made by Bill about reading Yeats on St. Paddy's Day! Bill "gets it."

bill, you're certainly right that there are folks with healthy senses of humor. but people making fun of a stereotype that is at least partly economically-affected is something you need more than a healthy sense of humor to take lightly.

what good would a counter-festival be? there is little genuine feeling in the current festival.

i'm glad someone pointed out hampden's racist past. it's not all that different, if you venture below the avenue. i know this from experience.

Honfest is the American Way. It works.

So there's this middle class mom working away, doin' a good job, coming to work in her cubicle each day. And she has a dream to open a restaurant.

She puts up her money and walks on the big insurance company and opens a little place in a neighborhood that she believes has the potential to grow and thrive, at least enough to keep a roof over her head, food on the table and clothes on her family's backs.

She picked a name that got some news coverage, and the restaurant was getting by. i don't know if she was making a profit or sinking in debt, and its none of business, if you know what I mean.

To help the place get some free advertising, she came up with or stole or received as a gift, the idea of a spring, outdoor event that shared the name of her restaurant, and celebrated Baltimore, a catch that was good to have, it seems. You gotta have a catch if you want a chance to make it.

Hon fest was born. Although any fool can figure out it was designed to help the restaurant, it didn't do nuthin' bad to the businesses around it. People liked the shtick. They liked the catch. Baltimorons love the Baltimore that was, the one that greeted and embraced the O's; the one that greeted and embraced the Colts. people came to Honfest to celebrate what was and enjoy what is. They bought some food, some drinks, and visited other businesses. These were not the big box shops in the malls, these were little businesses, each with the personality of the community and the owner. Some of the good that Cafe' Hon was trying for spilled out of the visitors pockets and into the neighbor's cash registers. This was a bad thing?

Each year, the festival grows. people pay to have booths because they expect to sell and make money. And somebody does the work to make it happen. They too are selling. They are selling their skills, their talents and their track record of making this bigger and better each year. Who would begrudge somebody for making a buck off their own hard work?

I ain't heard nothin' 'bout how much money is made off the organization of the thing, and it ain't none of business, if you know what I mean. If the government was putting this thing on, that would be a different story, 'cause then it would be my money were talkin' 'bout, but it ain't!

The American Dream - you have an idea, you work your butt off to make it a reality. The American Dream - you work hard to make your dreams come true and they do. Each year, Honfest gets a little better for a lot of people. If local businesses participate, its obvious they will make money. Denise Whiting had the confidence and vision to succeed. God bless Denise, what she has done to help Hampden, and may God bless America.

See ya' on 34th Street this Christmas. If not under the lights, probably at one of the restaurants on the Avenue.

You know, REAL Irish people DO celebrate Irish culture on St. Patrick's Day (even though the man was Italian- irony?) and the real residents of Hampden I know don't seem to mind HonFest too much. I've never seen any of the old-school residents suggest that they were being made fun of, or abused. It seems to me that most people who complain are those who have the time and energy. Unknowing elitists complaining about elitism.You want great shops and successful restaurants and bars? Then let them make some money at the festivals two times a year. Because the business owners don't seem to mind HonFest. The festival has been here since 1994. Have most of the complainers?

no, A festival was in hampden since long before 1994. hon fest as the replacement for the MAY FAIR is not that old. curiously, how many "hampden residents" that don't mind hon fest are from hampden themselves? living there is one thing. being from there is another.

there are not two hon fests a year. the fall festival is not the same event. it's a celebration of hampden, not an image.

for the record, i know plenty of REAL hampdenites who really can't stand hon fest, and almost all of the native hampdenites i know can't stand cafe hon or its owner. the picture that the neighborhood embraces all this as a whole is an illusion, no matter how many god blesses one throws in.

calling people who know enough about the history of hampden and baltimore to find fault with something elitist is a misunderstanding of both the situation and the word. most of the people i know who don't like hon fest are third or longer generation native hampdenites who are as down-to-earth as people come. you're calling them elitists?

or supposing that, somehow, people who take issue with hon fest "are those who have the time energy"? you're making an anti-elitist comment yourself, which is every bit as bad as making elitist comments.

what is important here is to LISTEN. a lot of native hampdenites, the people that are supposedly being celebrated, are angry, offended and hurt. it does not matter how anyone else says we should feel. YOU'RE NOT THE ONES BEING MADE FUN OF. WE ARE. we know how we feel. hampden transplants and non-hampdenites don't get a say in how we feel or how we express our frustration with someone who's ego eclipses what hampden is.

The notion of "is a working-class white woman" is absurd. She drives a big SUV, lives in a big house in Guilford and sent her son to a pricey private school in the county. She's comes from a middle class Glen Burnie background, not a working class city one.

She's also not a local - owning a business in Hampden doesn't make you a Hampdenite any more than working at Johns Hopkins Hospital makes you an East Baltimore local.

Her impact on the neighborhood has been mixed, at best. Sure, she's brought plenty of money onto the Avenue, but how much of that is seen by third or fourth generation Hampden residents? Answer: not a lot. Most of the profits from Hampden's "renaissance" have ended up in the pockets of transplanted middle class types who've opened up lame stores that sell crappy antiques and Girl Scout Summer Camp-quality jewelery.

All that being said, its foolish to claim that Hampden was so much of a better place before the Hon juggernaut arrived. On a basic level, Hampden is safer and cleaner than its EVER been. Maybe that's the result of increased police presence and public services since the gentrification began, but its true nonetheless. Nostalgia is a funny thing - when people think of the good old days of Hampden they only remember the good and seem to ignore the bad. Its painless to remember the strong community bonds, but perhaps a touch more difficult to reminisce on the kids who used to wander up Morling Ave. looking like zombies after huffing glue down by the old mills.

Is the increased safety and cleanliness that the Honization of Hampden has brought worth the increased cost of living and blackface-like humiliation that is HonFest? ... Its a tough question.