Always Allow For The Unexpected

Flag City Balloon Fest:
Last weekend my daughter and I worked our concession stand at Findlay's Flag City Balloon Fest.  Friday night was a bust...rainy, cold and no hot air balloons.  The crowd was non-existent.  Stragglers were hanging around in case the balloons decided to show up but that wasn't the case.

Saturday afternoon it was cloudy and looked like rain so the balloons didn't show again.  But there was a car show going on so we were doing business pretty steady throughout the afternoon.  Finally around 6:00 the sky had cleared up and the balloons arrived and inflated.  And so did the crowd.


It was literally solid customers for 3 hours.  For every vendor there.  At times the lines were so long we couldn't see the end of them.  I couldn't have run to pee if I'd had to...thank God I didn't have to.  We ran out of tenderloins, almost ran out of chicken tenders and at 9:15 we ran out of propane for our deep fryers.  I would have been discouraged being out of propane, but we were so exhausted that I think we were both grateful for the break it gave us.  By 9:30 the crowd was miraculously sated and the other vendors were able to relax too. 

The money we made in those 3 hours was almost more than we made at either of the first two events.  And I learned a lot from that event.  Always plan ahead and make sure I have all 4 propane tanks filled.  Always have more food on hand than I can imagine selling.  And maybe take a "gopher" along for the next balloon fest.  Having someone to fill the coolers with more pop and ice and grab more meat from the freezer in the truck and get more potatoes or bacon bits would be a big help. 

Our next event is called Max's Flea Market and Water Dog Races (fondly called the coon dog trials).  It's promised to be a big 3-day event over Labor Day weekend and I can't wait!  Lots of dogs and guns and hunting paraphernalia and a lot of red necks...of which I will fit right in...hahaha.

I'm loving the carny life and when it's over (the first weekend of Oct.) then I will get back to my other life.  Since I'll have the winter off, I plan on getting down to business with my first love....writing.  I want to finish the first draft of my new novel and research getting my present one published as a e-book. 

I also plan on doing a much needed spring/fall housecleaning thingy that didn't get done in the spring and won't get done in the fall.

So many things on my to-do list that my winter will be full.

Quotes of the Day:
Always gotta keep busy or the voices start telling me to do wild things. ~ Steve Brown

A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower. ~ Kin Hubbard

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~ Unknown