In the eye of the storm

It has taken me several days to post about the Memorial Day Blues Festival, I needed to recoup.
The day started out overcast and a little rain but nothing we haven't all seen before. Plus there was some sort of mix up about the tent placement, apparently the Fire Marshall drove by and said all tents must be 10 feet apart. As you can imagine this caused a bit of a stir as everyone had set up exactly as directed. This news meant half of the group had to move! One vendor was asked to move twice?!? With the gloom in the air and now the news of the migration there was a bit of a bad vibe happening now.

By the time our booth was set up it was actually sunny and pleasant. Just a little wind here and there but we had everything staked good and tight. Thankfully I had an early bird shopper and had a decent first sale of the day an hour before the event! As usual Jodi and I are finessing our tables and area but there seemed to be nasty skies in the distance. So we decide to be pro active and go ahead and put the sides on the tent, plus Jodi's husband aka "the weather man" has called and warned of a storm coming our way. Looking back I remember "the weather man's" advice to me as he was assessing the weather conditions and the layout of the land, he told me if anything happens our best bet is to jump in the lake. OK! If it gets that bad I'm thinking to myself...I'll just be a goner.

The next few minutes were something like in the Wizard of Oz ! Here's the deal...Jodi and I have the plastic on one side and are doing the other side of the tent, on the outside. It's raining (hard) and the wind is blowing (hard). Oh by the way the band is playing not missing a beat. I see several tents blowing across the lot and miscellaneous bags, signs, art .....you get the picture.
Jodi and I are using our weight to hold the tent, honestly for a second I felt the tent pulling me up. I am not a small person so my thoughts were if my feet leave the ground I've missed my go jump in the lake opportunity! Next came the really bad part....a straight line gust (that's what Jodi called it, I say mini tornado) blew both tables opposite us and everything was on the ground and blowing away. All Jodi's art! Remember we are still OUTSIDE the tent.....then it was over.
No more wind, no more rain just a group of soaking wet people surrounded by rubble. And the band played on.......

Thank goodness no one was hurt. The losses were all material, some more than others. After the shock we began picking up the pieces and thinking how it could have been worse. At least I didn't jump in the lake but I sure looked like I did.