Wet Windy Weekend
I'm at McDonalds, finishing a coffee and checking email before we head back to the fairgrounds to work on inventory. I'll likely edit this post later to add more information.
We arrived late Friday morning, and started setting up the booth just as the rain started. By the time we got set up and made it to the campground, it was raining sheets and buckets. We're staying at a nice campground at Hill Ridge Farms. The place is really meant for RV campers, not tent camping. Since the weather has been so unpleasant, the site owner took mercy on us, and let us sleep in one of his picnic shelter/barns instead of setting up a nylon tent. That was wonderful of him.
What wasn't wonderful was to learn that at least one of the neighbors of the defunct golf course at which the fair is being held has decided to be hostile. The signage for the fair has mysteriously disappeared more than once. Someone was verbally harassing rennies and videotaping us coming and going. A couple police officers appeared, apparently just to keep things from escalating, though they didn't want to get involved at this point. We (and the other rennies) did the only thing we could, which was ignore it and move on. We've encountered this before. Some people are just assholes.
Saturday, we got there around 8am and finished setting up the merchandise before we opened at 10am. It went from very cloudy, to raining, to pouring and sheeting rain. The fair closed about an hour early due to the miserable weather. The parking for the vendors was marshy and vehicles were getting stuck. A tractor was pulling folks out that couldn't be pushed free. We made it with a few folks helping push. It rained all night.
Sunday we started cold and cloudy, and we were concerned. The sun came out right around opening, and things started warming up. We were very happy. Then the wind started. It went from a breeze to a gale. Tents were torn apart. The gusts continued all day long. One of our poles snapped. Luckily we had a replacement; we've been through close-to-hurricane conditions before (most recently Ike). We got our tent repaired and helped several other folks through the day. But the wind was so constant and strong, we were forced to take down our vertical displays and the walls. It was like showing our underwear in public. The trailer lights showed. Our best merchandise was hardly displayed. Our sales stalled out, since we looked half-disassembled. That hurt, but it was better than things getting damaged and people getting hurt by flying merchandise. All three of us got a bit scraped up (very minor) during all this.
Ironically, today the sun is out, and things are calm and clear... Figures. I feel better though, that the locals say this past weekend was very unusual weather, and it is usually nicer here. I'd hate to think this is typical spring fair conditions! But, time to get back to work. We have to inventory and start resetting everything that came down.
We arrived late Friday morning, and started setting up the booth just as the rain started. By the time we got set up and made it to the campground, it was raining sheets and buckets. We're staying at a nice campground at Hill Ridge Farms. The place is really meant for RV campers, not tent camping. Since the weather has been so unpleasant, the site owner took mercy on us, and let us sleep in one of his picnic shelter/barns instead of setting up a nylon tent. That was wonderful of him.
What wasn't wonderful was to learn that at least one of the neighbors of the defunct golf course at which the fair is being held has decided to be hostile. The signage for the fair has mysteriously disappeared more than once. Someone was verbally harassing rennies and videotaping us coming and going. A couple police officers appeared, apparently just to keep things from escalating, though they didn't want to get involved at this point. We (and the other rennies) did the only thing we could, which was ignore it and move on. We've encountered this before. Some people are just assholes.
Saturday, we got there around 8am and finished setting up the merchandise before we opened at 10am. It went from very cloudy, to raining, to pouring and sheeting rain. The fair closed about an hour early due to the miserable weather. The parking for the vendors was marshy and vehicles were getting stuck. A tractor was pulling folks out that couldn't be pushed free. We made it with a few folks helping push. It rained all night.
Sunday we started cold and cloudy, and we were concerned. The sun came out right around opening, and things started warming up. We were very happy. Then the wind started. It went from a breeze to a gale. Tents were torn apart. The gusts continued all day long. One of our poles snapped. Luckily we had a replacement; we've been through close-to-hurricane conditions before (most recently Ike). We got our tent repaired and helped several other folks through the day. But the wind was so constant and strong, we were forced to take down our vertical displays and the walls. It was like showing our underwear in public. The trailer lights showed. Our best merchandise was hardly displayed. Our sales stalled out, since we looked half-disassembled. That hurt, but it was better than things getting damaged and people getting hurt by flying merchandise. All three of us got a bit scraped up (very minor) during all this.
Ironically, today the sun is out, and things are calm and clear... Figures. I feel better though, that the locals say this past weekend was very unusual weather, and it is usually nicer here. I'd hate to think this is typical spring fair conditions! But, time to get back to work. We have to inventory and start resetting everything that came down.