The Lotus-less Festival 2008

Let's go on with the show, Ethyl Merman once sang. And so the show went on down at the Echo Park Lake. The Lotus Festival was a well-attended success once again, despite the disappearance of the famous flowers. The L.A. Times finally wrote about it a couple of weeks ago... In the story they did not mention something that my friends Oscar and Jerry shared with me recently. Last year, as they were going about their usual morning walk around the park, they noticed some city workers "cleaning" the lake. They seemed to be pulling the dead lotuses found in the area of the lake that sheltered the flowers from the root, they said. "They seemed not to know what they were doing," my friend Oscar said. Could this have been the cause of the lake's lotuses' demise? We'll never know perhaps...

Despite the loss, I must say that it was still inspiring to see Angelenos enjoying the festival this past weekend. The concession stands were as fun and interesting as always. The performers were entertaining. The food court was divine. And the fire works were better than ever.



Let's hope the city fixes the situation with the lotuses. Maybe they can plant some new ones? As fun as the festival was this year, it just wasn't the same without the presence of the majestic flowers.