The month started out great, of course, with the purchase of my new truck on June 1st!!!:
June 2nd and 3rd were prep days as we got ready for the busy month. One very important thing that had to be done was to "build" a new canopy for our stage. The one we used last year saw it's final event in April during a very bad storm. The new tarp had to be cut, measured, taped and grommetted. No small feat.
On Thursday morning, June 4th, we headed out to Star to set up the stage and canopy for the weekend festival. It threatened to storm all day but stayed calm as we headed out to Nampa Nights. Rob and Tyler stayed behind in Star while the rest of us went to set up our weekly event. The skies were pretty dark all afternoon and, just after the band played the first set, the wind picked up and the rain started to fall. All things considered, it wasn't as bad as it was in other places but we did have a tree break and land on some one's foot. Nampa Nights was shut down for the evening. . .
Tyler and Rob didn't have nearly as much fun out in Star. Not only did they have the weather to contend with, but, once again, communication became an issue and they were told to move the stage and canopy. The wind almost moved it for them. . . it was that bad. We managed to get everything moved by late Thursday night but the tone had been set for the weekend.
It rained most of Thursday night and into Friday morning and Rob, who stayed the night in Star, woke up to a big water bubble in our new canopy. By the time I got there, Rob and Kurt had emptied the canopy and patched things up pretty well. Fortunately, the canopy didn't suffer any permanent damage. We continued to set up all day and were ready in plenty of time for the evening concert. The band was OK and the first night of the festival was uneventful. . .
I have mostly blocked out the events of the second day at Mule Days so all I can say is that there were weather issues, promoter drama, and more weather issues. That's all I have to say about that.
Sunday was nice and sunny as we packed everything up. . .
Monday-Wednesday, June 8th through the 10th, we recovered from Mule Days by finishing up the army cases. . .
. . . and adding a much needed coat of paint and a couple of new stage decks to the stage trailer. . .
On Thursday, June 11th, I said good-bye to my kids. . .
. . . and headed to Salt Lake with Rob to set up a stage. (Kurt stayed behind and managed Nampa Nights and a 2-day Egyptian show by himself. . . ) Once again, we faced terrible weather on the trip over and even went through a wind and hail storm that shredded the protective tarp over the stage trailer. The trip to Salt Lake took 9 long hours. It had to have been one of the longest days of my life. We drove the Uhaul, pulling the stage trailer, with the dogs, through all kinds of weather. . . Not my best day. We stopped in Jerome to replace the tarp:
On Friday morning, we drove another hour to the other side of Salt Lake to set up our stage in a lovely park. It wasn't too bad considering we left the ladder and the level behind and those two things are pretty key to this set-up:
We spent the rest of the day on Friday as well as half of the day on Saturday at Lagoon. We stayed in the campground next to the theme park in the Redneck motor home with the dogs. I'd like to say I had fun. . . Actually, there were a few neck-twisting, head-jarring moments of fun. . .
Saturday afternoon it started to rain again. We even heard there was a tornado warning. We left the park just in time and headed into downtown Salt Lake to meet with our friend and fellow sound person, Mark. He is the one that hired us to bring the stage and we are working on a case order that we'll fit in in our spare time. . . He and his wife drove out to the stage site with us and helped us take it down. In the rain. It didn't take too long to fold up the stage but, after Mark left, Rob and I had to reinforce the new "cover" for the trailer so it would stand up to whatever weather came out way on the trip home. We got back to our campground around 2 a.m.
The drive home from Salt Lake was pretty uneventful except that it still took close to 8 hours. In the truck, pulling the trailer, with the dogs. I had hoped to be home in time to see Zach before he left for high school camp but we didn't pull into town until after 7:00.
The drive home from Salt Lake was pretty uneventful except that it still took close to 8 hours. In the truck, pulling the trailer, with the dogs. I had hoped to be home in time to see Zach before he left for high school camp but we didn't pull into town until after 7:00.
I had a little bit of time to visit with the McConaughey's who were in town for a few days but it wasn't nearly enough. Gloria had Elsie spend the night on Sunday and they had some time to catch up. . .
On Monday, we had to pack the truck and head out to Emmett for the Cherry Festival. Once again, weather was a factor but we were able to work around it. . .
We had all day Tuesday to continue with our set-up. . .
We were ready for the opening ceremonies in plenty of time on Wednesday. . .
The Cherry Festival is a night and day difference from Mule Days. For one, it's in a park rather than a field, second, the organizers of the Cherry Fest have all of their ducks lined up neatly in a row and they rarely get out of line, and third, they treat us really, really well out in Emmett. Thursday was a pretty laid back day with dance groups on the stage and a few easy-to-set-up ensembles. Kurt stayed in Boise for the day so he could run sound at Nampa Nights. I had to work a little harder in his absence but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. . .
After the festival on Thursday night, Rob and I had to "build" another tarp to go over the slightly smaller canopy that had to be set up early Friday morning. I didn't want to be left alone with the digital sound board in Emmett so I volunteered to help set up the stage and canopy early Friday morning at Ann Morrison park for a Saturday festival. It wasn't a bad set up considering the early hour but it did take longer than we expected it to. . .
. . . I didn't get back out to Emmett until after 2 p.m. Rob, of course, handled all of the acts on stage until I got there and then I helped out. I got there just in time for one of my favorite groups: The Hopper/Crump Family. They are made up of two couples in their 70's and 80's that can still play really well. I admire their tenacity. We had rain again off and on all afternoon but we were able to keep the show going by covering up a few things. Kurt came back out in the afternoon and ran monitors for the evening group, High Street. They were very easy to work with, great at entertaining the crowd and were very happy with the sound we provided.
The last day of the Cherry Festival is usually pretty easy. We have a few dance acts at the beginning of the day and then the stage is set up for the cherry pie eating contest. The parade starts after that, leaving an empty stage for us to set for the evening bands. Kurt's kids got to spend the day with us in Emmett and all the kids had fun hanging out on the rides and by the stage. Hailey took most of the pictures on Saturday and took some really nice shots. The band for the evening was Straight Away:
I was too tired to take any pictures on Sunday but we met at Ann Morrison Park around 9 a.m. to pack away the stage and canopy and then headed back out to Emmett to pack all of that gear up into the truck. I think we finished up around 7 p.m. and I fell asleep the minute I walked in the door.
There was no time for a day off since we still had catch up work to do at the shop. Phone calls to return, upcoming festivals to prepare for, paperwork to make sense of, cases to build and orders to place. We put in a lot of hours at the shop from Monday through Wednesday but didn't really feel like we accomplished much. . .
Thursday, June 25th: We had lots of good company at Nampa Nights and actually had a pretty enjoyable evening. AND not a drop of rain.
When we loaded the truck on Thursday for Nampa Nights, we also loaded everything we would need for our weekend event at the Idaho Center. On Friday, June 26th, we set up for a show that we would run all day on Saturday. Hayden was a great help:
On Saturday, June 27th, we spent ALL DAY at the Horse Affair event listening to Mariachi music and trying to get past the language barrier. The event wasn't very well attended but everything on our end went really smoothly and, all in all, it wasn't a bad day. Gloria had a great time riding sheep, catching chickens and making new friends. We were all loaded out by 11:00 p.m.
All I wanted to do on Sunday was sleep but we had planned to have lunch with my family to celebrate Father's Day and my nephew's birthdays at noon, so I drug myself and the family out of bed and we went to lunch. I'm glad we went but I ended up with a terrible headache and came home and slept all afternoon. And then I blogged. And blogged. And blogged.
So, that's June At A Glance. The pictures in the posts that follow this one will give much more detail. I'm tired, to say the least, and July is just around the corner and could prove to be just as crazy as June. But, hopefully, we've seen the last of the rain for awhile so, except for the sweltering heat, weather shouldn't be a factor!!!
