The City of Fairfax closed its downtown to through traffic on Sunday afternoon so residents could watch Netherlands v Spain in the 2010 World Cup Soccer matches on a huge jumbotron TV in the middle of North Street. We all brought our own chairs, mats, and stools; there was beer, food, and water for sale, the Alte Kameraden band played.At half time an energetic girls’ percussion band beat the livin’ daylights out of their drums and got folks clapping and dancing in the streets. There were open-air prizes (in place of door prizes), and the weather even cooperated, being warm and sunny with a little breeze.
The crowd was made up of partisans for Spain (some with bright yellow and red face paint to show their allegiance), partisans for the Netherlands in orange shirts, and multi-partisan hornblowers of every description. The crowd was a cross-section of today’s America, lots of kids, and colors from deep black through brown to red-burned white. All in all, a happy, courteous crowd delighted to be there.
Spain won in overtime after a very hard fought game. Exuberant Hispanics blew their car horns as they left.
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