Day 4 Mule Days

We were up early again on Friday and had plenty to do before the first sound check at 3:00 p.m. All of the lights had to be installed and plugged into our new dimmer rack (power for 10- 6000 watt light bars). Rob wasn't 100% sure it was going to work since he hadn't had a chance to test it with our lights beforehand. . . We still had the sound system to hook up, the stairs to assemble, the canopy had to be cranked up, and one huge mess that had amassed over the busy preceding days had to be cleaned up. . .

I had the good sense to call for back up. . . luckily Gary was available!!

Gloria. . . . ???

Things were just a little on the stressful side. . .

Gloria is quick to make friends and once she met up with this little girl, she stayed out of the way. . .

The lights worked perfectly on the first try and we were able to crank up the canopy. I cleaned up the disaster site and worked on setting up mics and monitors for sound check while Rob did audio and Gary helped wherever he could. Did I mention it was stressful??
The first band was a group of really nice guys. They consider themselves just a garage band and even call themselves "Just The Band". They were there around 2:00 and watched us frantically finishing our set-up. They were very nice about it and waited patiently for their sound check. We had them on and checked by 4:00 and still had time to catch our breath before the event kicked off at 5:30!

Kurt had spent the morning in Twin Falls picking up a truck but came by in the evening to help us and to watch the show. His daughter was a huge help over the next several days.

Just The Band:

The Blues Brothers took the stage as the main act for the evening at 7:30 (ish?). They are always very entertaining and the crowd loved them:

We have worked with this group quite a bit in the past and that always makes things a little easier. They know what they're getting and we know what we're getting. It's all good.

Lori came to hang out with me, too, and took this lovely (?) picture. Normally I wouldn't post such a thing but it's proof of how tired and stressed and baggy-eyed I was!!! (This day was the hardest of the two-week-Mule-Days-Cherry-Festival-Extravaganza!)

The Blues Brothers are easy to run the monitor board for so after a few songs, I sat back and took pictures. . .

I always love it when Lori comes to hang out with me!

Zach patiently took care of the motor home and the dogs.

Rob's lights worked beautifully!

Gloria renewed her friendship with a girl she met last year at the Cherry festival and they hung out together all weekend at Mule Days. This girl is only 11 or 12 and she paints these beautiful designs on customers faces at her mother's make-over booth. Gloria's pretty good at picking friends!!

The kid's had all day passes for each of the three carnival days. . . such a tough life. . .

We were completely exhausted at the end of the day and we went to sleep in the motor home knowing that it was really just the beginning. . . Two more days of Mule Days, one day to take it all down and off to the Cherry Festival to set up and work for 4 full days before taking it down again. . .