Just arrived in Tubac, AZ for their annual arts festival and while talking to our neighbor found out about one of the Palm Springs art shows that takes places in the downtown area. In case you hadn't heard. On January 21, 2012 90 mile per hour winds basically wiped out the entire art show. Palm springs is a windy place, hence all the windmills that catch the wind coming through the pass. The extent of the damage to the trees in the park is really something else and considering more people weren't hurt is amazing. Huge trees were knocked down and fell on vans, tents went flying and our neighbor reported that he had been hit in the head and knocked out (he had the shiner to prove it). It only goes to show you how dangerous weather can be and sometimes all the weights you put down are still not enough to keep the tent from flying. Surprisingly, watching the YouTube videos some tents were still standing while some right next to them were decimated! For more on that show see: the shorter version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt1NlZNxJCQ&feature=related OR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n6DD5CBQJs&fe
It makes ya sort of humble.
Comments
Connie- Des M. used to deliver sandbags to all the artists when the show was along the river. Now that is is around the park they don't.
Brian - you mentioned that you heard about this when you arrived at Tubac. How was that show? I've heard mixed reviews, but mostly comments that it's at least 2 days longer than it needs to be.
Did any AFI members do that show?
They had bad winds at the Des Moines Art Festival one year (actually more than one year) and a forklift delivered huge sandbags to each booth in the following years. Not sure if they are still doing this though as this was a few years back. The fact remains, no sandbags or concrete blocks would have stopped these winds it seems.
Did Utah Arts festival year after big microburst. i brought rope and the fire dept came thru and tied me down properly but the concrete weights were at least 2 ft x 3 ft blocks of concrete. it took a forklift to put them in place and every booth had 4. Also not to be a mean but most of the booths that look like they took a dump were the pointy tent type. Caravans, EZ up's. They seem to take off in the wind no matter where one is. The heavier type of canopy's (light dome and Craft huts) usually stand up to wind and other bad weather. Another place that gets a good amount of wind is summerlin Nv. tried to do a show there last year and winds were clocked at 60 mph. i did not set up and went home. with a nice tail wind. Summerlin at the end of april can be nasty. Thanks for the video. Who sponsored the show
How horrible! I like the idea Utah Arts Festival has, but not sure it would have helped in this case. After all, whole trees fell. How do you plan for that kind of wind?
Robin Ragsdale
www.evenbetterimages.com
What a sobering video. Thanks for the link, Brian. It is amazing, the selectivity of the wind. Unscathed booths right beside devastation.
Looks just plain devastating. How disheartening to be slogging through all of the clean-up. Poor folks. I was at an art fair in Whiting, IN one year when a huge rainstorm came through and took out a number of booths. All of the other artists pitched in to help those affected. Some of us helped dry thing off, someone went to the laundromat to clean and dry table covers, some tried to straighten out the twisted tent frames and wire parts together to get them through the fair. I've met some of the most wonderful people in the artists at art fairs.
That is an awesome and practical idea. I wish other promoters in areas with wind issue would implement this strategy. It is impossible to carry enough weight in my Subaru with all the other mess I have to take to a show.
I would like to suggest that ALL outdoor fairs look at the Utah Arts Festival's solution. UAF ( who occasionally has a micro-burst) has all the booths tie down to festival provided concrete weights. We bring the heavy straps. Since implementing this standard, no booths have tumbleweed-ed through the fair. Their system would minimize damage in the event of high winds.
It is difficult to travel and carry sufficient weight for our tents. I would be willing to pay a little extra in the booth fee and know that the weights would be at the festival!
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