No, I’m not suggesting a superstar Family Feud grudge match…though it could be fun. Actually, I am reacting to my recent Sheep and Wool Festival visit. The S and W Festival has been going on in Rhinebeck for ages, but in recent years it has become a kind of frou frou chi chi event. Among other things, that means lots of douche bag blowhards from Manhattan.

And other places too. People travel from far away, and many of them are quite pleasant. Unfortunately, enough of the people in attendance are douche-y that it can ruin it for everyone.

The biggest problem? The number of nasty looks and behind-my-back comments about the fact that I was pushing a stroller. My little girl is seriously cute. You have to be a freaking martian bent on the destruction of Earth not to smile at her, let alone actually scowling at her. Yeah, these crafty middle aged women are nasty. So are the 20-somethings. And to boot, at least 30% of these women are themselves wider then the stroller I was pushing. Seriously.

The event setup added to the problem. There are several barn outbuildings where they had vendors and such, and these had little photocopied signs that said No strollers in barn. Next to this message was a sign that said Stroller parking. And under every stroller parking sign was 1 to 3 trash cans. And often, next to these trash cans was 1 to 3 people smoking.

Look, if you’re going to have an event that is not kid-friendly, don’t subtitle it the Family Fun Festival and advertise that it is fun for the whole family. Instead, charge admission for children rather than having it free for kids under 12. We would have just left them home and it would have been fine. Instead, we were irritated and frustrated and felt like we didn’t belong.

Now, back to the reason for my title. See, last week at Comic Con at the Javits, there were probably 3 times as many people in a much tighter and much smaller, entirely indoor space, and it was so much more pleasant. Yeah, the crowd got old and after our multiple successes in getting free comics and key autographs, we were ready to leave. We didn’t feel unwelcome or chased out…we were just ready to go. At the Sheep and Wool/Family Fun Festival, however, we felt like second class citizens smeared in non-sheep poop.

So what should you take away from this? In my opinion it is this: If given the choice between attending a massive public event primarily attended by either middle aged women who do arts and crafts or 20-somethings who live to play xbox 360 waiting for the next Jackass movie to hit DVD, go with the gamers. Every time. Every single time.