Melba

We spent the weekend in Melba!! On purpose!! This is the third year we have set up in Melba for the Owyhee Summer Nights Festival and each year it gets a little bigger. Last year I was pretty miserable at this event for various reasons so I wasn't looking forward to it this year.

DAY 1: SET UP AND MOVIE NIGHT

The location is beautiful. We're on the top of a hill with a gorgeous view. . .

The dogs absolutely loved having such a big, grassy area to run in. . .

Unloading the truck is never fun, but it's especially difficult in the grass on an incline!!

It was another windy canopy set up. . . If the wind is just right it actually helps by blowing the canopy up and over. It's rarely just right. . . This time was no exception. . .

Zach was a big help. . . he kept the lid from coming off the cooler. . .

When the roof was finally in place, the rope tossing event began. . . Lucy loves this part. . .

Kurt actually got it over on the first try!!! It spoiled Lucy's fun but it sped up the set up!!

We worked hard all day, on an incline, setting up pretty much everything we own. . . the sun went down too early!!

We were set up in plenty of time to start the movie when the crowd was ready. Gloria had spent the day with Vic so I skipped the movie to pick her up but it sounds like there was a good crowd and everyone enjoyed it. Kurt went home because we were double booked . . . again. . . and he'd be taking care of an event on Saturday. The kids had fun playing with the lights and hanging out together before we went to sleep for the night. . .

DAY 2: SKEET SHOOTING AND EVENT DAY

This is the view we woke up to on Saturday. Much better than the view I wake up to at home. . .

The last two years at this event, Rob had hoped to go skeet shooting. This year he was determined to make it happen. We finished up a few things on the stage and cranked it up so he could spend some time shooting before the event started.

I set up the mics and booms and cables and line checked everything so we would be ready for the 12:30 start time. It's all fairly casual so there was no stress about it. I was close enough to zoom in and take a few pics of Rob having fun. . .

I was taking this picture of Zach, but the expression on Rob's face in the background says it all. . . He had way too much fun. . .

There was a nice benefit for me in all of this. We've had 3 boxes of clay pigeons sitting in our closet for the last 5 years and now they are all shot to pieces and not in my closet!!!

The stage and canopy turned out pretty nice. . .

The first group on was the Bob Miller band. They had only played together on three other occasions. . . Rob let me mix them. . . hmmmm. . .

Here's a little snippet. . .

The second group up was called Freestyle. Rob did the sound check and let me take over the board. . . again. . .

The third group up was The Jeffries. They are a very talented family that plays together. I think this is the first year they have had their daughter on stage. . .

Rob finally took over the board in the evening when this talented young lady took the stage. She is only 15 and she writes and sings her own songs.

I finally had a chance to walk around and take a few pictures. Gloria had a great time all day on the climbing wall and the jump houses. I think she made at least a dozen new friends, too. . .

The Bethel Boys were up next and had some great harmonies. . . of course, Rob stayed at the board. . .

They also led the crowd in The National Anthem. . .

It was a pretty good crowd this year. I'm guessing between 300 and 400 people. I think there was about 50 the first year.

Straightaway was the band for the evening and they started out with a few guest singers:

I ran the monitor board with Lori's help so I was able to get out in the crowd a little bit . . .

Zach helped, too. . .

Straightaway had a really good time . . .

Sergio filled in on the drums for Jerry and he was great to watch. He was one of our very first customers way back when we first started building cases so I have talked to him on the phone over the years but this was the first time I had heard him play the drums. He's really good!! He didn't know half the songs the band played but he did an amazing job and had a lot of fun with it. . .

Rob put on a great light show. . . He actually had a really good time which was nice since he hasn't had much fun at the last few big events. . .

The show ended at 11:00 and we spent a couple of hours coiling cables and buttoning things up before falling exhausted into bed.

DAY 3: TAKING IT ALL DOWN. . . AND LUNCH. . .

I was up by 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning ready to get this event over with. I did what I could until Rob woke up around 9:00 and started helping. We were moving pretty slow. . . Kurt showed up around 10:00. . . with his kids!!!!! Yay!!! It was an unexpected surprise seeing the kids with him and it cheered me right up and made the day a lot easier!! It really is a huge amount of help when these 4 work together:

I think they have a little bit of fun while they're at it. . .

Everything we put up on Friday had to come back down. . .

Girl's Rule. . .

We were all starving by the time we finished up so we went into Nampa and had lunch at Panda. It was nice just to sit and relax and watch the kids have fun. . .

Another event to check off the list. . .