Another year of Martinfest brings more innovation

I never know what my dear wife Karen and I will find at Martinfest. The family that brings the big party to the little parking lot in downtown Syracuse for a winter break of friends and fun never stops coming up with new wrinkles. This year’s newbie was a portable pizza oven. I did enjoy…

A sort-of-warm year for Martinfest

I had to attend Martinfest solo this year. Bah! My dear wife Karen had her Saturday shift at the library and couldn’t make it to the annual better-than-Winterfest Bash in the downtown Syracuse parking lot thrown by our great friend Michelle and many other Martin siblings and cousins. I took the early shift, leaving to…

Martinfest enjoys the short February thaw

A late February day in downtown Syracuse with the high temperature hitting 68º F? Martinfest really does see it all. This gathering of great friends started four years ago by the Martins, of course, has weathered deep snow blown around by gusting winds and bone-deep cold that made one wonder if the coffee would freeze…

Martinfest heats up this year

They can take the chili cook-off out of Hanover Square, but they can’t move Martinfest out of the parking lot across the street. That special gathering of friends put on by the Martin family, naturally, went on last weekend, thankfully, even though a bother about permits and such according to a story on Syracuse.com moved…

Martinfest generates another year of fun

Year three of Martinfest was not bigger in the numbers sense. The oh-so-cold and you-gotta-be-kidding-me snow just may have kept some folks away from the private get-together in the Syracuse city parking lot across the street from the official Winterfest. But the Martins — sister Michelle, brothers Scott and Kevin and cousin Jason — were…