We are…
This is where we will be on Saturday, with lots of smiles and good times!
On for E@RTC this Saturday! This is more exciting than attempting to crowd surf a fat guy at a Flogging Molly concert! This is also our first event in our corner lot of the season, so there’s a good reason to line dance on Saturday.
Someone wrote to me and said he was expecting the event last week because it wasn’t raining when he arrived. I’ll go over our methodology and reasoning for all you newbies. First, always check this blog. This is where we post if we’re on or off. We also add a link to here from Facebook. Most of you come straight here.
When we first started, we’d call the weather the night before, and it wasn’t a big deal. Our accuracy was better overall, but it left people in a real pickle. I never understood what that meant exactly, but getting in a pickle sounds unpleasant.
I don’t think the average spectator or participant understands the scale and radius of our draw. We pull people and cars from as far east as Montana, from the south from California, and north from Canada. We don’t pull anyone from the Pacific Ocean, but it would be nice if a sub showed up once in a while. People come from all over to participate and spectate, and this means they have airline tickets and hotel and car reservations to contend with. This means that we had to call it earlier in the week so people could get a 100% refund from their travel expenses. This brought us back to Thursday, where there was a reasonable level of predictability but enough time to make plans. It was that simple.
If you’re driving in from Missouri, you leave the moment we make the call and drive almost around the clock, and you arrive on time with just enough hours to get a little sleep. NOAA puts out a weather statement right at 3 PM for final confirmation, and if it’s questionable, like your first marriage, we wait until they make their call. Nobody gets it 100% right, so we could do without the peanut gallery who then claims it wasn’t raining that morning. Call NOAA and see if they give a poop.
Once we make the call, our volunteers and everyone involved can also make their plans accordingly. It’s our best solution, and it’s worked for about fifteen years now. Again, if the weather is wrong, take it up with NOAA, as we’re not in the weather business. Go yell at them.
After a couple of Saturdays off, we should see a big turnout. Temps will be in the mid-60s, so it will be pleasant. You can eat a hot fudge sundae outside and not have it turn into soup before you sit down. We love that temperature because it’s perfect for looking at cars and people, and small critters. And bandaged-up fat guys who failed to crowd surf at a Flogging Molly concert.
See you Saturday!