Day 3 Cherry Fest

Early mornings have become the norm by this time and we were back to work before 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Gloria's make-over friend's mother came by the stage to see if Gloria could help her set up her booth. I'm pretty sure setting out face paint and colored sand is more appealing than setting out microphones and speakers. I sent her off to help and she came back looking gorgeous (?):

Kurt and his kids came out to spend the day with us and to offer much-needed assistance. The kids all had wrist bands for the rides so they were off and running, having way too much fun!!

The lights turned out great. . .

. . . and everything cranked up pretty smoothly. We had some last minute adjustments before the Fiddlers came on at 3:00 but we were set up and ready to go in plenty of time.

We did have some potential excitement when the nearby water tower started pouring out gallons and gallons of water but the emergency crews were on hand and had it under control pretty quickly. It was something to see, though!

The Old Time Fiddlers kicked off the event and were "interesting" as always.

The thing I like best about this group of people is that they continue to do what they love even though some of them have a hard time getting onto the stage. My favorite little lady from last year didn't make it but she is my inspiration of what I could become in 40 years!! :) Here's her picture from last year:

The same bass player was back with the same bass and the same degree of ability to play it. . .

Rob and Kurt hung out at front-of-house while I managed the stage and the monitor board:

Opening ceremonies:

The Gem Cloggers are the only group that performs every day of The Cherry Festival. They always draw a huge crowd. . .

. . . and it's easy to see why:

This kid is amazing and I always love to watch him clog:

Lake Dance Steps is another favorite with great music and beautiful costumes. I took a bazillion pictures of these sweet little girls. They were heart-melting. . .

Days like this make all the hard work worth it. . .

How cute is this????

The first band of the event was The Guess Who Band. They are a local group that is quite unique in what they do. They entertained the crowd with their bagpipes and drums and gave Rob a chance to play with his lights!!

The kids were great at entertaining themselves all day and got along great! At the end of the day, we all gathered on the empty stage and I continued to be entertained. . .

This looks a little violent but everyone was laughing. . . . honest. . .

Kurt showed off some of his fancy clogging moves. . .

With a little more practice, he could be as good as this guy:

Rob and Kurt have other shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday so they had to put together another sound system. . .

By the end of the day, Rob wasn't feeling well at all and there was still so much to do. . . And for Kurt, this was probably the "calm before the storm" . . .