Gator Fest, St Tammany, Review, 8/26/09

Woke up to the sound of pouring down rain.  Uh ohhh.  Not that is was unexpected; the talking heads on the news had projected 50/60% chance.     It stopped by 7:30 and at 8:30, we hauled all the stuff to the Festival (Koop Rd Trailhead).

There was a small bustle of activity and plenty of volunteers who helped haul The Stuff from the car to the designated space (they supplied the tents, which was nice; one less thing to haul).   They also helped with setup.   After we finished, looked around abit ; there were only two other vendors.   One group of women selling little girls' dresses and a woman selling light buttons and wands (I'd been told there would only be handmade objects; apparently they changed their mind).  I had never been told directly how many artisans were scheduled, however, the newspaper indicated at least 6 different categories.

Between 10am and 3pm they had a miss teen beauty contest of some sort.  It if was ever stated what the criteria for the young ladies who won was, I missed it.   What I didn't miss was that it seemed the last names of several of thewinners were those of local politicians.   All they did was walk on the stage, stand there while another (very talented) young woman read their basic info, and walk off.     It was somewhat entertaining to watch; the mommas fussing around trying to keep their children clean.    Traffic through my tent was very minimal.  


Oh, and just to keep us from having too much fun, it rained ... more .... a big torrential rain.   This is the part where the volunteers were no longer around to help move the setup inward to keep from getting wet.   There were quite officers and I asked one if he could help me move a table and was told that wasn't allowed.  (Oh well, so much for my taxdollars at work).


Music started around 3:30 and lasted until 10pm.   The first two groups were pretty good, however, attendenace was very slim and I wouldn't guess more than 5 people came through my tent, which was on the edge of the seating area.    Before the last band started, Benny Grunch, most folks left.  And, I decided enough was enough, and we did too. 


I couldn't call it a complete loss, I did sell two items.     I certainly would not be inclined to return to this event.