It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday. I donned my hipster hat, slapped on some sunscreen, grabbed two of my girls and headed down to the Beaufort Street Festival.

An annual event, on my favourite street in Perth, where a good portion is closed off to cars and opened up to bars.
All the fantastic vendors and businesses on the street open their doors, crank some music and provide amazing food.
As it’s popularity is growing, I knew this year would be crazy busy so we planned to arrive at the start of the event.

Damn lucky we did too, because even at 12:15 it was chockers! We hit the south side first, made our way up the street and headed for the shady shack. There wasn’t much we missed, and after three hours Anh and I felt like we’d done enough. Big crowds don’t do a lot for my stress levels, so these days I stay at these events for as long as I’m enjoying myself and leave before I get too frustrated. Lucy has a much bigger tolerance level than I do, and she ended up kicking on for most of the day!

We began with samples from Rochelle Adonis, including a Christmas pudding soaked for 18 months in brandy! Rich, christmassy heaven!

We hit up the soul food truck for some smokin’ pulled pork. Our logic was to share everything, so we could sample as much as possible.
Girls who think with their stomachs…

Duck Jumplings had me jumping for joy (too lame?).

Being a lactard I couldn’t get involved in these double espresso chills! Which sucks, because they were freebies, and who doesn’t love freebies?!

I made do with a coconut, which was leaking all over the place but refreshing as hell.

The lovely Lucy from Luce’s Eternal Sunshine.My little Anh, with a couple of nuts.

     There was a little section hidden away from the madness, in the carpark behind Fresh Provisions, dedicated to artwork. And free gingerbread men…

Which was also where we discovered the greatest buy of the day. Matso’s ginger beer – icey pole style.
This has pretty much determined how I will spending my summer. Need to pick myself up some of these stat!

When we had completed the full loop, we wandered back down the road to El Publico, my favourite restaurant and the highlight of the festival, in my opinion.
They transform their carpark into the “Shady Shack” where all the 18+ tequila fun times begin. My pick from the bar is the tequila and fresh apple juice. It sounds simple, but it is so refreshing and packs a punch. Paired with smooth guacomole, crunchy chips, a cuttlefish tostada, some astro turf, and cruisy beats we were sent into the most chilled out, happiest of places.

Earlier in the day the girls were made promises of Sundaes at Rochelle Adonis, so we decided to finish our palates off with some SUGAR.
I opted out of this as well, but they looked incredible, although maybe a little rich as Lucy and Anh couldn’t finish one between them.
I pocketed a couple of lemon curd tarts (I am suuuuuch a lemon curd fiend) to bring home for the boy, and Anh and I took our full tummies home.

During the day we bumped into people we knew (bound to happen on this street) including our friend who had brought her Irish cousin along. He had just flown in the day before and this was his first taste of Perth. On a day like this I was so proud to call Perth home, event like these help us all embrace our city and to remind us how much we love dear little Perth.