You know the old saying...If you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen? Well I have a new saying. If you can't stand the heat, what in the heck are you doing setting up for an outside show when the temperatures are in the 90's with 100%humidity? For the first time in 20 years, Lou and I set up for a show and ended up not doing the second day. We participated in the Potomac River Festival this weekend in Colonial Beach, VA. We rolled into town and were able to set up the 2 tents and the display on Friday evening. We found that we could not stake the tents down because 4 inches below the grass, there was concrete. We lowered the tents to table height and strapped them to the cash and wrap which weighs about 150lbs and decided to buy concrete blocks for each of the tent poles for Saturday. Saturday morning was beautiful, a wonderful breeze coming off the river. By 1 o'clock the breeze had stopped, the temp and humidity had risen and it was miserable. Around 4, another vendor saw on his phone that severe thunderstorms were heading our way...that made our decision for us. It was time to start breaking down, tents and all. I didn't want to chance losing merchandise and tents in a storm. When we got back to our motel and checked the weather, there was beeping and the red traveling message along the bottom of the screen warning about a storm. It ended up bypassing the area, however the forecast for Sunday was for hotter temperatures and earlier storms. We decided we couldn't physically set up and break down again in the heat.
Our friends Shar and Bill, who set up their booth next to us, rented a golf cart to breeze around the town in on Friday
Friday night was the Fire Company Parade. Sirens wailing and horns blowing, fire companies from Maryland and Virginia made their way through the town. 
Saturday morning, a crabber checking the pots, a beautiful sunrise. Along the main road of the town there are platforms on tall poles with the nests of ospreys.
Our display...we made some special items just for the area.
Thought this was so cute. A young couple were trying to sell puppies. They had the crate on a hand truck. I then thought of why we had never bred any of our dogs...I would never have been able to sell them and we would have ended up with a house full of cocker spaniels.
Saturday night the town had a fireworks display off the end of the town pier. The town made for a wonderful weekend for visitors with several parades, live music, a carnival and fireworks. If you get a chance to visit this river town, take it.
I think maybe we are just getting "too old" to do shows in the heat...Unfortunately one can't control the weather!
I complain about the rain in the Pacific Northwest but at least it is cool and very little humidity. I left Texas because I could no longer physically take the heat. It's a true bummer.
ReplyDeleteYou do such a good job on your signs - they look fantastic!! It's amazing how your part of the country gets such extremes in temperatures. It seemed not too long ago that you were in the midst of that "snowmageddon" that dominated the headlines, and now you're in the middle of what we around here would call a very intense heat wave - and it's not even officially summer!! Keep cool!
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