INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 10 - Continued)

Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

ACROSS CANADA … Where to Sleep? (Part Two)

We had just gotten to sleep when I was awakened with a flashing light! It was the police! The police car came to a stop behind our vehicle and an officer got out of his car and approached ours. He taped on our window and I rolled it down a crack (you can’t be too careful!). The officer bent down and said “I don’t want to alarm you (he did!) But right across the river is a penitentiary and two convicts have just escaped! We would suggest you not open your door or window to anyone!” I thanked the officer and he walked back to his car and drove away. What took place after that could have come straight from the Peter Seller’s movie, “The Pink Panther”. Police cars came passed us, to and fro, over the bridge and then back! I was looking for men in "Gorillas Suits"! Lights were flashing! Everything was a whirl! Finally the action stopped and all was quite again (so much for the romanced!) Judi and I had just gotten to sleep again when another police car, lights flashing, pulled up behind us! The office got out of his car and then tapped on our window. Once again I rolled the window a crack (still careful!) The officer said “I don’t want to alarm you, but there’s a penitentiary across the river and two convicts have escaped! I would suggest you leave this area immediately!” Talk about being alarmed! We told him that we didn’t know the area (we thought that we were in the middle of no where!) The officer said “Just go two blocks across the bridge and you’ll come to a main highway. There’s a truck stop right there! You’ll be safe at the stop!" We of course, thanked the officers and moved quickly down the road. Another night of adventure and lack of sleep! By the way, we never did find out if they captured the convicts! 

INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 10)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

ACROSS CANADA … Where to Sleep? (Part One)

We eventually had a great meeting in Minneapolis. The Hadley House people couldn’t have treated us better. After a breakfast meeting brunch and a tour of their facility, we were back on the road. The good night's sleep had done wonders for us. Now we were off, back to Canada and the City of Winnipeg. Winnipeg is almost directly north of Minneapolis and the trip can be a fairly tedious long drive! We played "travel games" to pass the time. We traveled the route without incidence and even crossed the border smoothly. The Canadian Boarder guards seemed to be less bored then their American counterparts. Of course, when we crossed the border this time, it was late afternoon. When we finally reached Winnipeg, it was early evening. we decided to drive around the city to get our bearings. We had an appointment to visit the Assiniboine Zoo the next day. Because of costs, we decided to find a safe place to park and then to sleep in the van. By the time we started to look seriously for a place to park, it was becoming quite dark. After much “driving around”, we found what appeared to be the perfect spot! It was a parking lot located right on the edge of a river. It was a clear night, and the moon reflected in the ripples of the water. Very romantic! After we parked, we settled down for a good night’s sleep! Judi was in the back of the van and I was lying back in the driver’s seat. What happened next was hard to imagine!

(To be continued)

When in doubt…turn right…again!

 Okay, so I’ll admit it! I got us lost! We left the Rockton World’s Fair on our way to the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show and I got us lost! I turned right (at the advice of Judi’s festival tips – “When in doubt Turn Right) when I should have turned left! However, when you really think of it, her festival tip actually was correct, because every time we came to a dead end, I turned “Right” and finally, after a lot of "Rights", we were on the “Right” road to Simcoe and the Norfolk County Fair. All through the trip we used all manner of “help”! First we turned to the “Google Map” directions that I had printed off before our trip began. I must admit that I was quite tired when I brought the directions up on the Google Map. I had reversed the directions and had us traveling from Simcoe (Norfolk Fair) to Rockton! Bad move, this really messed up my sense of direction! Everything was reversed. To make matters worse, my natural “internal” compass, seemed to be broken that day! That’s when we started to use Judi’s “Festival Tips”! We turned “Right”! The “turn” after traveling a few miles, didn’t seem “Right”! Confused yet? That’s when we brought out the “BIG” North American Road Map! The roads shown on the map didn’t look anything like what we were experiencing. All too quickly we came to a “dead-end”. We turned “Right”! After determining that the “BIG” map wasn’t going to help, Judi rummaged in a bag she had been given at the Rockton Fair. It contained an area map! We were saved! Or at least, so I thought. The roads on this map showed a little better! I were cautiously optimistic! Before we could really get our bearings, we came to another “dead-end”. Oh no! We turned “Right”! As we travelled in our new direction, we started to see some familiar landmarks. There was the church, the farm, the service centre, all familiar! We had just travelled in a complete circle! That’s when we started seeing signs saying “Simcoe this way”! I looked over at Judi; there was a very satisfied "smug" look on her face! The words “When in doubt, turn right” hung in the air!

INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 9 - Continued)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

ACROSS CANADA … the First 26 Hours (Part Two)

 Back on the road we traveled into the night (morning by this time). I was getting quite tired, so Judi offered to drive. We had traveled quite far and were now “in the middle of nowhere”. I think Wisconsin, but I’m not sure. I had just settled down to sleep when I heard an “Oh @#@!@” from the front! I quickly woke up, to find us slowing down! We had run out of gas! We had no idea where the nearest town was! I got out of the car and started to walk. I had no idea which direction to go, so I just took one and walked. It was around 5:30 in the morning! It was very quite dark and very still! We were in a rural residential area. As I walked, I heard a faint banging from one of the houses. I walked towards the noise and saw a gentleman at the side of his house. I approached him and explained our problem. He said that he could easily help us. Apparently, he used to run a service station and he had some spare gas. He drove me back to our car and emptied the gas can into our van. We were all set to continue. When he saw our Ontario license plate, he brightened up. He told us that he was originally from Quebec and a fellow Canadian! It was hard to believe our good fortune! The nearest town and service station was over 10 miles away! Delayed for an hour or two, we continued on our journey. We arrived in Minneapolis four or five hours late. The Hadley House offices were about to close, but one of the managers had been waiting for us. We explained our hold-ups and he kindly suggested that we should meet in the morning. We had been on the road for 26 hours straight! It was time to get some sleep!

INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 9)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

ACROSS CANADA … the First 26 Hours (Part One)

We left Toronto in our Dodge Caravan. We were all set for our trek across Canada! Our idea was to keep the trip as inexpensive as possible, so we planned on sleeping in the van as often as possible or stay at truck stops and campgrounds along the way. The first part of the trip, however, was to drive to Minneapolis, Minnesota to visit the publishing company, Hadley House. We had pre-arranged an appointment to meet the management of the company, so we had a fairly tight time table. Before we left we had calculated the time it would take to get there plus some time to spare. However, we didn’t count on several “unexpected” delays! Everything went well until we reached the border at Sault Ste. Marie. It was about 2:00 a.m. in the morning. We were the only vehicle at the crossing. The border guard started to ask us the normal questions and when I told him that we were traveling to the U.S.A. for business, he became more aggressive in his questioning. Finally he asked us to pull over for an inspection. In the back of the van we had brought with us a number of “sample” prints to show the people at Hadley House. Each print had the word “sample” stamped directly across the front. All of the prints were “samples” and had no sales value. The guard, however, had other thoughts. We discussed the prints for quite some time, with Judi and I finally saying “keep the prints if you want, they have no monitory value to us”! The border guard finally relented and let us go on our way. However, not without taking up an hour or two of our travel time!

(To be continued)