07-06-23 First Thursday
So much done today, bits of pressure but a success in the end. Slammed through work, took care of more Fest stuff and then did all the things I needed to for Summer Sounds. Tonight was the first of our Thursday night music in the park nights. It has previously always been on Saturdays. I was so impressed with the young people who came out to work and help set up all the fencing. We offered money to non-profits trying to raise money that if they came out and helped set up and take down, they would get some cash and the refundables. No one responded. A couple of us did some footwork and found two interested parties. They will split the job for July and one will be full on for August. The first is a 16 year old heading to the Nationals in Victoria for Archery Field shoot and he was working tonight so his Dad and kid brother came. The second are a group of 12 (I think) year old gals who are in Girl Guides and collaborated to start their own business called Junk Jobs. They are pretty damned impressive. Their business model is that they work for a flat rate so there is no stress over time or how many of them are there and they just get random jobs done. These gals impressed the heck out of me by carrying heavy metal fence panels in the blazing sun, getting anything done they were asked of, hanging out for some of the music and then coming back at 9:30 to help with reversing it all at the end of the night. They even donated their share of the refundables to the archer which was pretty awesome. So great to see the Pandemic generation digging in and getting things done. Will and Sawyer were the water boys tonight and they did an awesome job. Came away with a good amount of tips as well! All in all the night was a huge success. Over 400 people came out to see two great groups of local performers, The Testers with tweeners The Hurricanes. It was all music of my teens and 20s and there was lots of dancing and singing along. They even played Sweet Caroline at the request of the girls. Have to love that. My feet are killing me but I sure had fun emceeing and taking care of the details. I won’t be there next week but I have left them with all the instructions for handling the money etc that I usually do. It was our first year using half the park covered by our liquor license and it was chill and went well. Even the RCMP were impressed as they came through at our request. So much better than drinking in a caged area.
One of the awesome things that happened was that I received an email from Airbnb that I had been a Superhost 4 times in a row so I was given a coupon for $100 US towards a stay anywhere in the world, good for the next year! That is a wonderful surprise and I plan to use it well.
It is after 11:30 but I still have a bit of fest business to take care of. I am not worried as I get to stay for a couple nights in Sorrento where I can catch up on sleep. It is all a lot until I hit the road. 2 more sleeps!
triumphgal 