People Watching at the Preakness Infieldfest

I was talking with a friend last night about Preakness and she remarked that she didn’t think “regular” people (like me) were able to go.  She pictured a classy affair with big hats, navy sportcoats, boat shoes, and fancy drinks garnished with slices of fruit.  I had to explain that while this part of the Preakness does exist (one of my good friends got to see that side of the event last year, he looked pretty spiffy and said the food was exceptional), the infield is pretty much a drunkfest and the opposite of all that is classy.  To prove my point I showed her the following photograph.  Brace yourselves.  It’s alot to take in:

I often have to explain to my friends why this was third consecutive year at Preakness.  They want to know the main draw, as they know I’m not big on gambling (this was sadly the first year I even saw a horse) and I wasn’t super excited for the musical acts this year (they were all just ok).  Two main reasons:

A) I’m a sucker for any day drinking event.  Throw in that it’s been sunny every year and I have a great group of friends that go, and I’m sold.

B) The people watching.

Most people start drinking around 9:00, AM.  Combine that with the bottomless Miller Lite mugs most people recieve, and it becomes like a real life people of walmart.  It’s magical.

I finally saw a horse, granted they weren’t racing.

Typical crowd scene at Preakness.  As you can see, it’s not classy, and absolutely infested with people who think it’s ok to wear Fedoras (it’s not).

Jorts are very popular attire.  If I had to guess, I’d say that 25% of the attendees in Jorts are just wearing their normal Saturday outfit.  The rest do it as a joke.  I actually have to thank my friends for most of these photos, as I have not yet mastered the art of taking pictures of people without tipping them to this fact.  My favorite outfit was a kid wearing jorts, suspenders, and a Kelly Kapowski tee shirt.  It was amazing.

Preakness is a mecca for bad tatoos.  Rocky here was one of the worst.

Preakness also brings out the Patriotic side of people.  This man obviously took it to extremes.  I really dug his look.  One of his friends, was an attractive girl with an American flag fanny pack.  When we asked her if she was bringing fanny packs back, she replied, “they never left my friend.”  I should’ve got her number.