My feets are DRY now!
Sep. 15th, 2008 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wendyzskiOMG did we have rain at MiRF this weekend.
Now we've had rain at other faires. We've even had flooding at KC bad enough to float the Royal Stage. But KC is on hills! Imagine the conditions in the lanes at the bottom of the hill at KC, and put them all over the site. THAT'S what it was like at MIRF this weekend.
Saturday it rained. All day. It never stopped. At all.
We did the morning dance sets but I watched the dancers very carefully as I chose the tempo and dropped things as soon as it looked like someone was going to go down. We only had one fall during the Nonsuch so I think I timed it pretty well.
I'm not sure I will ever forget standing on the balcony of the Little Guinness Pub with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
macaodghain and watching as he poured muddy water out of his boots over the railing.
But it was later in the day as the rain continued to come down in sheets that as usual ren-folks showed their colors. Tartanic was on the stage all the way at the end of the faire, an had no audience, so they went looking for one. I saw them in at least three places as I sloshed through my schedule. The ground around the Maypole was a disaster so the Peasant Dancers went over and picked out Mike(?) the tallest guy in Tartanic, and they danced around HIM instead. (And you KNOW it's cold when Adrian actually puts on his vest!) There were paper boats floating in the middle of the street over by the Griffin Stage, the staff at Son of Sandlar installed stepping stones in the moat around their shop, and the "pond" by the magic shop had a small flock of rubber duckies by day's end. People were trying to lay boards across the worst of it, both in the lanes and backstage (the pallet-bridge behind the 100s was a godsend!) and some enterprising soul was attempting to charge toll on his little bridge to safety!
There were 4 people at Queen's Tea, but they get one hell of a show! For the record, Lade Anne did not ask for "that moose song". She did not ask for "that song about the moose". She asked for "The Moose Song". Now if you google those words, 7 out of the top 10 listings are for the one that we did. Oh, and did I mention that 2 of the 4 attendees at Tea were Caroline's parents? But when the Queen commands (and you've tried to refuse 3 times, AND made sure there were no kids around) then that's what you do.
Pub Sing took place in a pub under 3" of water in places, so we started out with 'Freebird' and things pretty much went downhill from there. The Bawdy Boys did "16 Tons" and then we had "a test of the Emergency Bagpipe System". When Her Majesty went to do her usual ending speech of "The sun is sinking in the west..", she stopped and said that she would have to assume that it is because "we couldn't see a damned thing up there anyway, and now it's ruined my poem!"
We slogged out ot the parking lot (I sank halfway up to my knees in mud up by the 400s, in a van hope that "higher ground" would prove drier) and after a quick stop at K-Mart for some Neosporin for the finger I stabbed on a screw at opening that got more and more infected all way, and a run through KFC we all crawled back to Motel 6 to rinse the mud off our shoes and ourselves, toss some cloaks in the dryer, and collapse. I think we were all out cold by 9PM.
According to the Area Manager the next morning, gate was just over 2300, only 400 of which actually bought tickets. The rest were all Season Pass holders. Cuz they are the only ones hard-core and insane enough to be out in that crap!
By Sunday morning some of the site had drained but the parking lot was still a nightmare. Security had been pushing and/or towing people out until well after midnight. We got stuck going IN to park and had to be pushed out at one point. We were missing some cast members from the start - either ill or unable to get there because of flooding. The ED outright told us that there might be an early close but that they were waiting, and that we were all go until either she or her Asst told us otherwise. I pointed out that I could not think of ANY safe way we could do the morning dance set and she agreed. So the musicians gathered up by the remembrance shop while the peasant dancers did a few country dances in one of the few flat and less-slick spaces. Shortly thereafter they began sending people home. The peasant dancers couldn't dance, the fighters couldn't fight, etc.
Once noon came around and we were still open, I predicted a soft close sometime between 4 and 5. I figured they would let the rain drive people out rather than us having to do it, and let people trickle into the parking lots slowly. The rain slowed and even stopped at a few points but we all know that all hell was going to break loose around 2PM.
I made one last foray into the streets around 2 to invite other acts to the empty stage spaces at our Pub, and to get the word about Queens Tea. I managed to find the Fops and learned that Tea and Feast were canceled and that aside from the Nationals, the Royal Court, and the Special Events people that pretty much the entire cast had been sent home. I made it back to the Little Guinness shortly before the skies opened up around 2:20.
Now, we didn't actually have another set scheduled until 3:45, but the other act in that space had been sent home at 11. But we had a pub full of people, and no reason to go out in that mess, so we handed our set lists around the audience and started asking for requests! We took 2 short breaks (one becausejcw_da_dmg broke 2 strings) but otherwise we basically played through from 2:30 till they finally came round to shut the bar down at 4:30. There were STILL about a dozen people in the Pub listening to our closing song when Tawny came in to tell us we could go.
On the way out I ended up standing mid-calf in running water trying to get the side gate open so that the merchants with wagons could pull their stock out. By that point I'd pretty much given up any hope of staying dry. We got to the car, shoeved everything in quick and started to try to get out. We managed it with the help of some other fair folks (who we have to find and thank) butwoody_whistler popped the back quarter panel on his car as we charged through the ditch. It looks like a simple one-bolt repair, I hope.
We crawled over to the Starbucks in Grand Blanc to change into dry clothes and find hot drinks. While there we ran into another musician and 2 merchants, pretty much doing the same thing. We then headed for home, calling Kathy for weather and road closure updates en route. Even taking things easy because of the heavy rain at times I still made it home around 10:45. I hung up all my soggy and muddy garb, briefly hosed off the remaining muck, grabbed a snack and a couple of ibuprofen and crawled into bed.
I still ache in unexpected places, but all things considered I feel pretty good. I think we have a lot to be proud of after this weekend - we kept going under extreme conditions and not only handled our sets but a bit more besides, with no injuries and everyone still seems healthy.
And I keep wiggling my toes inside my sneakers and happily thinking "YAY! My feets are DRY!"
Now we've had rain at other faires. We've even had flooding at KC bad enough to float the Royal Stage. But KC is on hills! Imagine the conditions in the lanes at the bottom of the hill at KC, and put them all over the site. THAT'S what it was like at MIRF this weekend.
Saturday it rained. All day. It never stopped. At all.
We did the morning dance sets but I watched the dancers very carefully as I chose the tempo and dropped things as soon as it looked like someone was going to go down. We only had one fall during the Nonsuch so I think I timed it pretty well.
I'm not sure I will ever forget standing on the balcony of the Little Guinness Pub with
macaodghain and watching as he poured muddy water out of his boots over the railing.But it was later in the day as the rain continued to come down in sheets that as usual ren-folks showed their colors. Tartanic was on the stage all the way at the end of the faire, an had no audience, so they went looking for one. I saw them in at least three places as I sloshed through my schedule. The ground around the Maypole was a disaster so the Peasant Dancers went over and picked out Mike(?) the tallest guy in Tartanic, and they danced around HIM instead. (And you KNOW it's cold when Adrian actually puts on his vest!) There were paper boats floating in the middle of the street over by the Griffin Stage, the staff at Son of Sandlar installed stepping stones in the moat around their shop, and the "pond" by the magic shop had a small flock of rubber duckies by day's end. People were trying to lay boards across the worst of it, both in the lanes and backstage (the pallet-bridge behind the 100s was a godsend!) and some enterprising soul was attempting to charge toll on his little bridge to safety!
There were 4 people at Queen's Tea, but they get one hell of a show! For the record, Lade Anne did not ask for "that moose song". She did not ask for "that song about the moose". She asked for "The Moose Song". Now if you google those words, 7 out of the top 10 listings are for the one that we did. Oh, and did I mention that 2 of the 4 attendees at Tea were Caroline's parents? But when the Queen commands (and you've tried to refuse 3 times, AND made sure there were no kids around) then that's what you do.
Pub Sing took place in a pub under 3" of water in places, so we started out with 'Freebird' and things pretty much went downhill from there. The Bawdy Boys did "16 Tons" and then we had "a test of the Emergency Bagpipe System". When Her Majesty went to do her usual ending speech of "The sun is sinking in the west..", she stopped and said that she would have to assume that it is because "we couldn't see a damned thing up there anyway, and now it's ruined my poem!"
We slogged out ot the parking lot (I sank halfway up to my knees in mud up by the 400s, in a van hope that "higher ground" would prove drier) and after a quick stop at K-Mart for some Neosporin for the finger I stabbed on a screw at opening that got more and more infected all way, and a run through KFC we all crawled back to Motel 6 to rinse the mud off our shoes and ourselves, toss some cloaks in the dryer, and collapse. I think we were all out cold by 9PM.
According to the Area Manager the next morning, gate was just over 2300, only 400 of which actually bought tickets. The rest were all Season Pass holders. Cuz they are the only ones hard-core and insane enough to be out in that crap!
By Sunday morning some of the site had drained but the parking lot was still a nightmare. Security had been pushing and/or towing people out until well after midnight. We got stuck going IN to park and had to be pushed out at one point. We were missing some cast members from the start - either ill or unable to get there because of flooding. The ED outright told us that there might be an early close but that they were waiting, and that we were all go until either she or her Asst told us otherwise. I pointed out that I could not think of ANY safe way we could do the morning dance set and she agreed. So the musicians gathered up by the remembrance shop while the peasant dancers did a few country dances in one of the few flat and less-slick spaces. Shortly thereafter they began sending people home. The peasant dancers couldn't dance, the fighters couldn't fight, etc.
Once noon came around and we were still open, I predicted a soft close sometime between 4 and 5. I figured they would let the rain drive people out rather than us having to do it, and let people trickle into the parking lots slowly. The rain slowed and even stopped at a few points but we all know that all hell was going to break loose around 2PM.
I made one last foray into the streets around 2 to invite other acts to the empty stage spaces at our Pub, and to get the word about Queens Tea. I managed to find the Fops and learned that Tea and Feast were canceled and that aside from the Nationals, the Royal Court, and the Special Events people that pretty much the entire cast had been sent home. I made it back to the Little Guinness shortly before the skies opened up around 2:20.
Now, we didn't actually have another set scheduled until 3:45, but the other act in that space had been sent home at 11. But we had a pub full of people, and no reason to go out in that mess, so we handed our set lists around the audience and started asking for requests! We took 2 short breaks (one because
jcw_da_dmg broke 2 strings) but otherwise we basically played through from 2:30 till they finally came round to shut the bar down at 4:30. There were STILL about a dozen people in the Pub listening to our closing song when Tawny came in to tell us we could go.On the way out I ended up standing mid-calf in running water trying to get the side gate open so that the merchants with wagons could pull their stock out. By that point I'd pretty much given up any hope of staying dry. We got to the car, shoeved everything in quick and started to try to get out. We managed it with the help of some other fair folks (who we have to find and thank) but
woody_whistler popped the back quarter panel on his car as we charged through the ditch. It looks like a simple one-bolt repair, I hope.We crawled over to the Starbucks in Grand Blanc to change into dry clothes and find hot drinks. While there we ran into another musician and 2 merchants, pretty much doing the same thing. We then headed for home, calling Kathy for weather and road closure updates en route. Even taking things easy because of the heavy rain at times I still made it home around 10:45. I hung up all my soggy and muddy garb, briefly hosed off the remaining muck, grabbed a snack and a couple of ibuprofen and crawled into bed.
I still ache in unexpected places, but all things considered I feel pretty good. I think we have a lot to be proud of after this weekend - we kept going under extreme conditions and not only handled our sets but a bit more besides, with no injuries and everyone still seems healthy.
And I keep wiggling my toes inside my sneakers and happily thinking "YAY! My feets are DRY!"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 04:27 pm (UTC)Hey, you guys beat last week's Saturday here by well over twice, I think - Definitely must have more hardcore faire enthusiasts there.
Oh, and we had an adorable little one visit (somewhere between 1 and 2 yo)... I'm pretty sure it was this week, not last.. who was visiting his third renfaire, all this year... the previous one being MiRF (which both he and his parents apparently enjoyed thoroughly).
Moose and mousse
Date: 2008-09-15 04:29 pm (UTC)(That's a link to my morris group's website--I believe that Justan, the lyric author, is a very close friend of Tom, one of the members.)
Re: Moose and mousse
Date: 2008-09-15 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 04:45 pm (UTC)Ahh, the feel of dry clothes!...
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 05:43 pm (UTC)We didn't even get to open Sunday in St. Louis; a foot of water over both auto bridges onto the site and the management just freaks a bit, y'know?
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 05:59 pm (UTC)As for the typos - I got home and discovered Pepper had knocked her hay rack down and peed in it - and hence all over my kitchen floor. My boss is in Denver and realized that he hasn't signed the corporate tax returns that are due today, and someone has gotten rubber cement on the glass of the copier machine. I'm being nibbled to death by ducks today.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 06:46 pm (UTC)My sympathies on the nibbling. Hope it eases up soon.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 07:22 pm (UTC)It's funny what rennies do to try and have fun. Tartanic is great, and I'd expect some shop vendors to do anything to drum up business and stay dry. A few years ago, Texas Body Hangings (formerly in the store next to nut shop, now Camelot Fans) was selling cloaks of Pleather-- Polyurethane that looked like leather, and was waterproof. Wish I'd bought one! Wool just ain't the same (though it does stay warm when wet)!
It wasn't much better here. I've heard Chicago's north side and/ or Evanston is pretty flooded, and I know Arlington Heights and Schaumburg, and everything inbetween saw flooded roads and full retention ponds. Brice put on his wetsuit for a while to go for a walk, and saw 2 idiot kids jumping in. Dove in after one, and told them to stop it. About 20 minutes later, the same 2 kids had gotten 2 other friends in swimsuits to join them, despite being told by a town public works officer that one kid had already drowned in a pond just like it, one suburb over. Of course, parents nowhere to be seen.
Then again, rennies can behave like large children too, especially in water. I've got pics of Bristol's Drum Jam, the day before they closed due to flooding last year. Also got a link to the pic with the elephant pulling the port a potty truck out of the ditch.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 07:52 pm (UTC)It was nice to have some intimate one-on-one with some patrons. We had some folks in from the local "home for the terminally bewildered" and one was rocking out while we were playing, and he very nicely asked me how long I'd been singing and told me that he loved music. A bunch of our "regular" fans were there each day, and it was nice to have time to chat with them and to play their favorites. Thanks to them and the others who took shelter with us, it ended up being among our best tip weekends in years.
And once we got the obligatory whining out of the way, Pub sing was actually rather a lot of fun as some of the musicians who don't make it over from other stages came to sit in, and we all huddled there on that tiny stage under that leaky roof, reeking of mud and wet wool, and with elbows in everyone else's way, we all played together and the energy was amazing. But at the end of the day we were still exhausted and soaked.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 08:58 pm (UTC)http://www.pbase.com/lazuras/mrf2008_0914&page=all
From what I recall of where the Faire Paire booth used to be, that's near where the boats were sailing and the toll-bridge guy set up. It was about anywhere from 3"-7" of mud all along that street.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 10:14 pm (UTC)But serious props to you for surviving through all that! I can't imagine.