Saturday, July 4, 2009

July F in OFallon MO


It rained last night….apparently it rained a lot. And it was windy. And it was cold. We arrived at the fairgrounds around 11am and we found one of our tents hadn’t been fastened down properly because it was tilted side-ways and everything that was in it was exposed (fortunately it was just a cooler and a couple of chairs). Turns out one of the canopy bars was bent and there were a couple of tears in the sides. While straightening the bar it broke….a new expense is in the cards.
The weather was threatening all day. It rained a few times lightly. But after the last show it let loose. Lightening, rain, and more rain, and more rain, and more rain. We were in the middle of packing things up when it hit. The loud speaker announced it was only going to get worse and so the event was canceled a couple hours early and the fireworks were cancelled. (By the way last night’s fireworks were very nice.)
Sheets of rain came down and we rushed about packing up. There is about 300 lbs more weight (all water) in the trailer tonight.
We will have to get the stuff out as soon as we can to dry it all out once the weather clears to keep it from molding.

The shows had packed seating in spite of the weather. In fact, the last show had about 300 –400 plus many more on the edges, a bit far from the stage but still visible.
Only one really funny story to tell. At the end of the second show I was introducing the kids for their final bows when Olivia stopped half way out and screamed, “a bug”. The audience laughed. But when Amelia stepped over and stomped on it, the audience exploded with laughter. Olivia proceed to come out for her bow.

Our stage was on the warning track of a baseball field. After the rain the filed and surrounding area was soaked so pulling out with our vans (Especially with trailer weighing 5000lbs). So to avoid pulling onto the field and tearing up the turf we found some grounds guys and had plywood laid out on the field. We pulled out with no problems.

Tomorrow we will do a ton of laundry. Then we will drive into St Louis and visit the arch and then get some fresh pulled pork sandwiches.

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