Before Christmas a major 4 lane boulevard was shut down and converted into a street fair for the holidays.

This was the way we’d go up to Wal-Mart and a huge shopping mall a couple of blocks past Wal-Mart.  Plus, that boulevard was the route that was used by a major MetroBus route we often rode.

For the first week or so, the bus routes were re-routed to further bus stops than the one closest to the Casa, but then things settled down and we could ride the bus up to the mall again.

In addition to all the normal things you’d see in a county fair (rides for small kids, rides for “big” kids, shooting galleries, food vendors, etc) something that was different for us were elaborate photo booths where families could have their pictures taken.  There were over 20 such booths and on one stretch of  the street about a dozen or so were all lined up together.

The booths had different themes (Christmas, Disney characters, etc) but each of the booths always had 3 “wise men” in elaborate costumes, wigs and makeup.

But looking closely, each booth always had one of the “wise men” in black face paint.  Take a look at the middle “wise man”.

I’ve wondered how that concept evolved into a “de rigueur” requirement if you wanted to set up your own photo booth!