It’s that time of year again – time for another Fall Festival op-ed.

In past years, I’ve written about the event on a much larger scale, citing what it means to me as a college student living in Evansville versus what it meant to me as a kid growing up in Evansville (yeah, I’m still here).

However, this year it seems more appropriate to perhaps narrow the scope a little bit and discuss a newer development for the famous street festival.

Last year, I downloaded an app on my Android phone called “Fall Festival Pal” in hopes that it would serve me well and make my time at the historical Franklin Street all-you-can-eat-fried-food shindig more worthwhile.

Now that I am older, my concerns while I am at the festival have changed. Primarily, I am interested in getting the best food I can for the best price available. The advent of the Munchie Map is still greatly appreciated.

Every year, it comes out early much like how an album is leaked early to entice or intrigue eager fans. These leaks or full-length streams are done to get people excited.

The map has more or less the same effect. The first time I saw a Munchies Map was at my work – I work on Franklin Street, so we had them early – I picked it up and began perusing through the list of old items I recognized and new items I didn’t (or at least had since forgotten about).

Let’s face it: there are entirely too many options to be had at the Fall Festival. But we wouldn’t have it any other way.

The only thing we might have another way is the means of narrowing down these items to decide what to get. This could be made easier through an app or website function that allows the festival-goer to select a booth or food item, get price points, and compare these prices with other booths who offer the same item.

A couple of years ago, I believe I paid something like five dollars for a widely-talked about brain sandwich that basically just tasted like fried food. It didn’t warrant the high price or the acclaim.

I have since been told that there are two booths offering this sandwich, and one of them is superior to the other. This is information I would like to know beforehand. The Fall Festival Pal app could be so much more.

It could be Google Maps. It could Yelp or Urbanspoon. It could be anything other than what it is now.