Free Admission Day Madness
This past Sunday was Free Admission Day, all over Edmonton. At all city-run facilities (pools, museums, etc.), everyone got in for free.
And all of the really cheap people come to Fort Edmonton. They do the math: it's the most expensive admission on normal days, so they feel that they're getting the most "bang for their buck" by coming to Fort Edmonton. D: It was insanely busy. We normally have 20-odd people on the Midway, but the city was only willing to staff up on nine of us. D: Most of the other interpreters spent their time doing line control - herding people, essentially - and keeping an eye on the artefacts.
I know that I'm generalizing, and many people who came must be perfectly wonderful people, but the sheer fact of the matter is we get like 70 or 80% of our thefts and damages occurring on this one day of the year.
According to a few friends on the other streets, damage included...
-The theft of letters and the log book from the Fort. They're reproductions made by the interpreters themselves - the log book is an ongoing reproduction that they were making of the daily log that the Chief Factor would do... mostly it has dirty stuff written in it, and comments from interpreters and volunteers, some of whom are no longer with us... and it was stolen. It's not technically an artefact... except from the 2009 season at a historical park.
-Some mother made her young son go to the washroom in Ferkins House. The house that was moved to its present location, in prestine condition... the washroom to which no plumbing is attached, with original furnishings... with a rope across the doorway. The kid apparently really had to go to the washroom, so his mum made him go there instead of two doors down to the restaurant public washrooms. D: An interpreter caught them, and yelled at them in the street (admittedly, it was near the end of the day). I mean, seriously, though - would you pee in a museum display? Of course not! D: Seriously.
But it wasn't all bad. The midway was horrendously busy, but the Ferris Wheel, which is our biggest draw, was closed due to wind. We had a wind storm last night... and all of today. The top four seats were actually taken down so it wouldn't fall over (it's a portable Ferris Wheel, not designed for standing up to high winds but to be taken apart easily and loaded onto the back of a truck). We also didn't even open the hand-cranked juvenile rides. Not with us so short staffed... and with just the right kind of people who would go for a free ride. Over and over and over again... So we didn't have to deal with that.
In the last hour, though, the carousel overheated (that, and the poles were actually rubbing up against the ground beneath the machine... which shouldn't happen, but it was hugely overloaded), so that had to be shut down, too. So for the last hour, it was just three booths (fish pond's poles had ripped through it's canvas, and so was nailed shut). It was... kind of pathetic, actually. XD
We had special events, too! (not run by us Midway staff, because we were ourselves far too understaffed to run any programmes) The barbershop quartet stopped by. They're sweet, and do try to only do 1920s showtunes instead of 1950s ones... though they have anachronistic shirts and water bottles. But I love them. :) They serenaded me once, at a different special event day. There were also some belly dancers... who had like, modern ripped jean skirts. I mean, we had belly dancers in the 1920s! Cooch dancers! Just wear the stereotypical outfits and you'd be accurate! D:
Also, there was an awesome stilt-walker, who was very light on his feet. And look, he had baby shoes on the bottom of his stilts! :D He was awesome, and let me photograph him. :)
I was like... what is he doing...? And then he did THIS:
It was because I'd told him how much I liked the baby shoes, so he wanted to have a demonstrative photograph. :) He was very nice.
And all of the really cheap people come to Fort Edmonton. They do the math: it's the most expensive admission on normal days, so they feel that they're getting the most "bang for their buck" by coming to Fort Edmonton. D: It was insanely busy. We normally have 20-odd people on the Midway, but the city was only willing to staff up on nine of us. D: Most of the other interpreters spent their time doing line control - herding people, essentially - and keeping an eye on the artefacts.
I know that I'm generalizing, and many people who came must be perfectly wonderful people, but the sheer fact of the matter is we get like 70 or 80% of our thefts and damages occurring on this one day of the year.
According to a few friends on the other streets, damage included...
-The theft of letters and the log book from the Fort. They're reproductions made by the interpreters themselves - the log book is an ongoing reproduction that they were making of the daily log that the Chief Factor would do... mostly it has dirty stuff written in it, and comments from interpreters and volunteers, some of whom are no longer with us... and it was stolen. It's not technically an artefact... except from the 2009 season at a historical park.
-Some mother made her young son go to the washroom in Ferkins House. The house that was moved to its present location, in prestine condition... the washroom to which no plumbing is attached, with original furnishings... with a rope across the doorway. The kid apparently really had to go to the washroom, so his mum made him go there instead of two doors down to the restaurant public washrooms. D: An interpreter caught them, and yelled at them in the street (admittedly, it was near the end of the day). I mean, seriously, though - would you pee in a museum display? Of course not! D: Seriously.
But it wasn't all bad. The midway was horrendously busy, but the Ferris Wheel, which is our biggest draw, was closed due to wind. We had a wind storm last night... and all of today. The top four seats were actually taken down so it wouldn't fall over (it's a portable Ferris Wheel, not designed for standing up to high winds but to be taken apart easily and loaded onto the back of a truck). We also didn't even open the hand-cranked juvenile rides. Not with us so short staffed... and with just the right kind of people who would go for a free ride. Over and over and over again... So we didn't have to deal with that.
In the last hour, though, the carousel overheated (that, and the poles were actually rubbing up against the ground beneath the machine... which shouldn't happen, but it was hugely overloaded), so that had to be shut down, too. So for the last hour, it was just three booths (fish pond's poles had ripped through it's canvas, and so was nailed shut). It was... kind of pathetic, actually. XD
We had special events, too! (not run by us Midway staff, because we were ourselves far too understaffed to run any programmes) The barbershop quartet stopped by. They're sweet, and do try to only do 1920s showtunes instead of 1950s ones... though they have anachronistic shirts and water bottles. But I love them. :) They serenaded me once, at a different special event day. There were also some belly dancers... who had like, modern ripped jean skirts. I mean, we had belly dancers in the 1920s! Cooch dancers! Just wear the stereotypical outfits and you'd be accurate! D:
Also, there was an awesome stilt-walker, who was very light on his feet. And look, he had baby shoes on the bottom of his stilts! :D He was awesome, and let me photograph him. :)
I was like... what is he doing...? And then he did THIS:
It was because I'd told him how much I liked the baby shoes, so he wanted to have a demonstrative photograph. :) He was very nice.