I’m writing this the morning after the Dally in the Alley, in rough shape from my drinking last night at the Dally. This is my first year going to the Dally and this, by far, is the most crazy festival of the entire summer and a fabulous was to end it. This was a Detroit Metblogs mini-event as it consisted of Mollika, two of her very nice friends, and I. Read on for my list of the pros and cons of the Dally.

Pros
1. Sunglass Vendors – If you are ever looking for a fake pair of Gucci sunglasses, this is the place to be. Never in my life have I seen so many vendors of fake sunglasses.
2. Incense Vendors – See above, but replace sunglasses with Nag Champa Incense
3. The Bronx – While it was busy, it wasn’t overly packed. Unfortunately, the Ms Pacman Machine is too difficult and we never made it to the third cutscene, where they have Pac babies. The Bronx had a cover, but it was only $3 and covered your first drink – I suspect this was to keep people from coming in and using the bathroom.
4. The bands – There were some crazy good bands at the Dally, especially at the forest stage and some of the stages in the alley. We caught what might be the world’s greatest rendition of Styx’s Mr. Roboto in the alley. If you like electronic music, they had it pumping out of the stage on Second all evening long.
5. No cops – This is both a pro and a con. I was down there for at least three or four hours, and not once did I see a cop. Mostly people were just having a great time.
6. The Beer tent – They served up two different brews – a lager and the “ghettoblaster”. The money all went towards the North Cass Community organization. Also, the workers at the beer tents were very nice folks.
7. Hot dog vendors – mmmmm

Cons
1. Underage drinking – It’s all over place at the Dally, although the kids mostly hang out outside of the two area liqour stores. I caught a fight outside of the one on Second, when a kid threw another kid through a glass door.
2. The bartender at the Majestic – She was really mean to me. I’m not really sure what her deal was. This has nothing to do with the Dally, but I thought I’d give her a shout-out.
3. No cops – Even when there was the fight at the liqour store, the cops didn’t even show up.

All-in-all, a good time was had by all (except the kid who went through the glass door) and I look forward to next year’s Dally in the Alley.