Posted by Bill Sargent on October 22, 2009 at 1:30pm
There was a bit of water management left to do at check in time. Yes, that white card on the string in the background is a booth marker.
Ann was trying to stay warm at fifty degrees. Quite a change from the hot, muggy 93 degrees in the booth at Gulf Shores a week before!!
..and here we have a special treat for Nels. With instructions. First of all, I would do Kentuck again if they take me. Once you’re set up it’s a fun show and the staff works very hard to keep the artists happy. It’s a good crowd looking for offbeat stuff. OK, that having been said, it was our first time at Kentuck and our first impression was one of confusion, dismay, and just a touch of fear. The day before the show it had rained torrentially and the park was in bad shape. Old timers who had done the show for teens of years said they had never seen anything like it. When we arrived at the noon check in time we were told to come back at two. There had been a delay. Front end loaders were at work spreading gravel and mulch so it would have been a chore getting in. I watched a couple of ladies staking out booth spaces through the middle of a ten foot puddle wading in water up to their ankles. We headed straight for Walmart to get rubber boots. The supply had been thoroughly picked over and I wound up with a pair two sizes too big on the label, but comfortable on the feet. The only pair Ann found in her size were steel toed and we figured in order to get our money’s worth we’d have to drop our 65 pound tent weights on her toes several times while she was wearing them. When we returned at two it was a chaotic scene. People were lined up at the check in windows thirty deep or so and the line did not seem to be moving. There was a line of cars already on the one lane strip of pavement circling the park. If you were in the line of vans waiting to get to your space and someone ten vehicles ahead of you had to stop and unload.. you’d better have a good book. Driving off the pavement would get you stuck. Just about the time this scene was sinking in I noticed that there were few complainers, people were laughing and joking about the situation, and many people shrugged and started dollying in from the parking lot, mud and all. We joined them. In the meantime the show crew kept working to fill in the mud holes and drain the puddles with electric pumps. By dark we were tired and cold, but we were pretty much ready to go. When we showed up the next morning there was a large puddle at the entrance to our row which would have stopped foot traffic. I mentioned this to the staff and they said they would be on it at first light. Soon after that I watched in amazement as a dump truck and front end loader filled the hole with railroad rock and leveled it off in a matter of minutes. We got an early buyer who was quite enthusiastic about our stuff and he made a fairly good purchase before the official opening time of eight. The rest of the day, however, we just tried to stay warm. We were thankful for our new rubber boots throughout the whole weekend. There were some spots that looked solidly mulched, but would sink you to your ankles if stepped on. Veterans of the show said the crowds were much thinner than they had been the previous year. Sunday was a bit better (a reverse of the usual pattern) but it was still slow. The few people who were there bought well but there just weren’t enough of them this year. A primitive artist near us had done as high as $4500 in previous shows. This year he only did a thousand. Our total wasn’t a whole lot higher. We did get a glimpse, however, of the kind of crowd this could be in better times. An afternoon flurry of sales on Sunday saved our show for us. The teardown wasn’t as difficult as the setup. We dollied out the first few loads and brought in the van for the last one. Mistake. We got stuck and the nice man with the tractor had to pull us out. We were only stuck about five minutes. By then he had lots of practice and had already pulled out a couple dozen vans. The old timers say that during check in you can normally pull out of line next to your booth and unload. This is the first year they remembered that this was not possible. We were glad to be out of there and were looking forward to the trip home after a month on the road during which we were alternately baked, frozen and rained on, and occasionally sleep deprived. Variety is good.
Ah, that RC a man of few words. First Bill, it thrilled me that you did a potty shot with a pink top. My lips puckered pink and purple, I thought I was having "Purple Jesus Moment." Nice rainbow colors of the muck. You do it better than anybody on the circuit. Made me almost want to be there. It was a great report. Better than 97 percent of the stuff we see on this site. It put you in the moment. I really think you have a potential as a writer in a second career. You lso gave a lot of meat. In fact, when I weighed in on the scale after reading your report, I gained 22 pounds. I guess I am just going to have to stop eating the fruitcake topping. You did good. It always is a wonderous moment when you choose to report.
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