Last weekend was
PrideFest here in Milwaukee -- one of the largest such celebrations in the midWest. It draws lots of people from Chicago and further -- it's a really big deal here.
I'm good friends with Carl, the owner of the local Bookstore,
OutWords, and so I volunteered to help staff a huge booth they run at PrideFest. I worked 5-12 midnight on Saturday and 12:30-11 on Sunday. It was very busy when the weather was good and we were kept on our toes keeping up with people buying books, DVDs, t-shirts and what Carl likes to refer to as
"Rainbow Crap" (which lots of people buy, spending lots of $$.
)
Saturday evening, some really, really large thunderstorms moved in. If it were up to me I would have closed the place down. There was widespread flooding around the area and significant wind-damage, (so much so that it made the national news) but the PrideFest people were loathe to shut-down (it would have cost them big bucks) so we rigged-up tarps and went on selling rainbow crap in the driving rain and tornado-force winds. I was soaked to the skin for most of the evening. Unpleasant to say the least.
Sunday, there were storms again in the AM but by noon the skies cleared and the sun came out, so we set-up the booth and did a brisk business. Then at about 5PM thunderstorms reappeared. We were ready with tarps, etc.. At about 7 we learned that there were tornadoes in the area and the thunderstorms seemed to get worse and worse. Still the PrideFest folks tried to go on with the big show: The Indigo Girls were scheduled to appear as the main act later in the evening. When the wind picked-up even more, Carl decided that we had had enough, regardless of what the PrideFest folks thought and we began to hurriedly pack-up everything and prepare to abandon ship. We did an amazing job of getting all the product (including the "Rainbow Crap") packed into something -- which was remarkable considering that the usual pattern -- and the object of being there in the first place -- was that we take home less than we bring. Still we barely had enough boxes and stuff to pack what was left. We had planned for 3 days of retail sales and really only got 1.5 days where sales was possible.
Once we were packed, however, the tale is not over. Vehicles are not allowed on the SummerFest grounds until they are closed and the show was still going-on over at the Miller Pavilion. We couldn't just abandon the booth and leave all the merchandise sitting there -- people are basically honest, but that would have been too much temptation for some, i am sure. We simply had to sit there for 2.5 more hours until the Indigo Girls finally came-on and then finished their act for 200-300 brave fans (in my book,
IDIOTS) sat in the driving rain with thunder and lightening-strikes all around them to see the show. The IG were under-cover on the stage, so they presented their entire show in this huge 3000-seat pavilion for 2-300 people
sitting under umbrellas and ponchos. What-the-hell --
they got paid and
they were dry...
When they finally cleared everybody out (about 10:30) we were able to bring in the truck and load up the mountain of unsold merchandise to take back to the store. What a bummer!
This has to be the worst PrideFest EVER - at least weather-wise. Poor Carl, probably didn't sell enough "Rainbow Crap" and other stuff to make it worthwhile to even drag all the stuff down to the SummerFest grounds.
AnyHoo -- that was pretty-much my weekend!
