We decided to set up Friday morning to beat the heat (scheduled to be over 90), and arrived at about 9:15 (check in was listed as starting at 9 AM). Two other vendors and we chatted for a while until one of the partners showed up. He told my wife we were in spot number 2, at one end of a single, back-to-back line running down the middle of a large field with microbreweries on either side. We began unloading and setting up, and got our Light Dome up when two ladies came up and said we were supposed to be in spot number 48 - all the way down at the other end of the line. When told that a partner had put us in #2, they went of to check things out. At least we had chairs to sit in while waiting for the verdict. When they came back a half hour later, they told us we were now in spot #37 and had to move. I told them we'd be happy to if the two of them helped us walk our tent down the line to the new spot. We had to wait for another half hour before that finally happened. By the time we were finished setting up and were ready to leave it was almost 1 and close to 94 degrees. So much for beating the heat on Friday.
Saturday was forecasted to hit 95 degrees. Everything started out fine, but as our new location had no power available (the first and second did), I brought an inverter generator to run fans and offered to let our neighbors run fans off it. Crowds were light, but not terribly so. As the day progressed, we had more and more 'customers' who were obviously over the limits we were told wouldn't happen. This could have been because of the heat - it was brutal - but there were people carrying several glasses of beer at a time that I had been told wouldn't be allowed. What was really interesting was that the 'festival' hours were until 9 PM, although the taps were cut off at 8. By 8:30 there was no one there but vendors, but we were told we couldn't bring vehicles on the grounds (remember, all us vendors were in the middle?) until 9 PM no matter what and I didn't want to leave the generator there overnight.
Sunday was forecasted to be 98. Crowds were very light, less than half of Saturday's. The heat was even worse than Sat., and no one was interested in buying anything but beer. Sunday's hours were scheduled to go to 7 PM with taps off at 6 PM. Around 4:30 a thunderstorm came through - we and several others who didn't want to loose product packed up and waited. The crowds really thinned out, but a few stayed for the last set of the band - I really doubt there were more than one or two hundred paid attendees left after the rainstorm. The management STILL insisted that we all could not bring vehicles in to pack up until 7 PM, even though the brewery folks had all packed up, the food vendors were tearing down, and all the commercial folks were long gone. At 6:30 they even escorted a kettle corn vendor in to pack up (he was on the outside ring, not the inside line).
Bottom line: I wouldn't apply for another show these folks manage ever. There was no 'management' shown towards either art/craft or buy/sell vendors - we were simply a way for them to make some more money. Their true focus was on the commercial microbreweries (and food vendors - don't ask me why!). They completely left the county EMTs (a total of four persons) to handle any and all health issues during truly dangerous weather. No cooling fans, no ice to even buy, no nothing. We know they can't control the weather, and when its this hot, customers don't buy much of anything. They can control how they assign spots, when their staff shows up, be flexible about letting us leave when there's no more 'civilians' about, and be more responsible about dangerous weather towards those attending their events.
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