Last Saturday was the Blues festival right off of Columbia Pike on Walter Reed DR.. Lots of food, great blues and it was free what more could you ask for?

A far off look at the festival

On of the favorites of the festival was the BBQ

Here is just one satisfied customer.

They also had little bit of everything else.

Here is a look at just one of the booths at the festival, some awesome glass pieces. I really like hand blown glass pieces these were really cool but a little small for me I like big glass pieces.

This is a map of the area where people marked where they live, this was part of the Arlington Hieghts Nieghborhood booth.

Local restaurants were there like ABI Azteca.

Some great street festival food.

Bob & Edith’s was there too grilling it up.

A vintage car in the middle of the festival, why it was there I don’t know.

There were also bears on display!

As always these festivals have to have a beer truck, and this festival follows the rules.

They also had the less popular wine stand, as you can see.

This festival had a little something different a stand with all this stuff, I don’t know if this came from a local business or what.

All I know is that they did have Spiderman and Barney backpacks there, is Barney still cool with kids?

I’m glad the ice cream was there I like the strawberry shortcake bar.

The drinking did have limits.

Along with all the food and booths selling Spiderman backpacks there was some great blues.

The band brought a great crowd to listen to the tunes.

A great booth I came across was Guitars not Guns. A charity that gives children a chance to learn guitar for free and if after the lessons they pass the guitar test they are given they get a gift of the guitar they have been practicing on. The guitars are donated by Gibson, being that I am a former guitar player this charity caught my attention. I think it’s a great cause.

The charity started after a family lost their son to an accident involving a gun.

I really like their design too, this shirt is really cool a use of minimal amounts of lines and colors.

They had a raffle to win this guitar, not to shabby!

The Blues festival itself also some cool design.

A local Yoga studio with great spirit, I love festivals like this where local business has a voice.

Even the local church had a booth.

It’s not a festival without funnel cake.

The great Halstead Arlington also had a booth and here are the great ladies of the Halstead Arlington holding down the booth. The Halstead is a great apartment building on Walter Reed and Columbia Pike right across the street from the festival.

I continued my walk down Columbia Pike and recorded what I saw.

More pictures of Columbia Pike, a look from the CVS up to the McDonalds. The old and the new a little construction and a little look at some signage.

A look at the CVS and the new background of a large crane and new construction. This is what the new Columbia Pike looks like and I think it will continue to look like this for a while to come.

A look at Columbia Pike signage nothing much to these signs, the Kung Fu sign uses italic for their sign and that’s it there is no other design to think about. L.A. Bar uses some color for their sign and the cleaners just says Cleaners nothing else. I wonder if these businesses are all getting their signs from the same place? The only place that put a logo on their sign is Pizza Movers and they used the Dominoes colors, but at least they have a logo.

You may be wondering why put a picture of payphones in here? Well it’s not often that you see them anymore in Arlington, I remember the days when I was driving around Arlington and when I received a page on my pager (circa 1998) and could stop any number of places to use a payphone to call the number back. Now with cell phones not a lot of people need payphones anymore, but they’re still there people.

There is a lot of signage on Columbia Pike that looks like this, I characteristic of The Pike I guess the feeling is just simply put the name of the service on a sign and you’re finished. It has worked so far so I don’t see a lot of these signs changing, but you never know.

Everything you need is on The Pike, whether it’s Pizza or cash, or cash for pizza!

Even your animal can get taken care of here on The Pike.

Cecelia’s I don’t know much about their food, but the nightclub is hopping on the weekend. I take it they play Salsa and Merengue I can hear it sometimes when I drive by.

I think this store is a great example of the oldschool that is Columbia Pike it’s a store that sells hundreds of Jesus, Buddha and Angel statues. I walk by and all I see is statues of Mary and Angels, I don’t know how this place is still standing but I think it’s awesome. Botanica Borique is the name maybe it’s the Peurto Rican in me that makes me love this place.

Atilla’s some great gyros here and the Hummus is awesome! A true Columbia pike look, you can tell it’s on The Pike.

A Rite Aid 1 block from the CVS, I think the only reason I use this one is because it’s closer to me. Nothing more convenient then having a Rite Aid right across the street. This is one I would classify in the new on Columbia Pike.

It’s really close.

Here is the Cinema and Drafthouse an Oldschool favorite a theatre that serves food and beer. How cool is that? The decor is defintley stayed the same over the years not much money going into changing the look of the outside. Then again do they really need to change it? It has kept this look for years and they haven’t even gotten new letters for the sign sometimes if they use to many I’s or S’s they just leave them out.

A sign that you’re on The Pike.

If anyone has been next door to the Drafthouse you have heard the tunes coming from this store which one comedian said sells everything you can think of but nothing you need! Hilarious.

The Bangkok 54 Market which put the sign to use and put their phone number and a short description on there.

The new Lost Dog Cafe South which has got a great choice of Pizza and sandwiches they also have a great selection of beers. Due to the rules of the building they are attached to, this is the most they can do with their sign. This sign is hard to see if you’re driving by, but I have a feeling that will not stop the masses from making this location a success.

With all the new coming to The Pike you see a lot of construction just like this.

The fast food corner, now they have there big signs and logos and you can definitely see them driving by.

You can see the age of the signs faded and worn, except for the 7-11 sign. I guess they don’t think it’s important to change their sign, people love the food at ABBI so i know it’s not a money issue. I don’t know about the food from El Puerto though.

Bangkok 54 pretty much locked down almost the whole block, here is a sign on the side of the building. No sign here for the other businesses in the strip mall, they locked it down.

I like this Bangkok 54 restaurant did not shy away from putting some effort into their sign. It gets kind of blocked by the trees but it’s big and they put the effort in.

Another look at what is probably the most recognizable sign on The Pike, you can see from several blocks away, just a big sign that says Arlington. Not Drafthouse just Arlington down the side of the building.

A look at the newest apartments Columbia Pike has seen in years.