Camden Street Fair (aka "Blow me Down)

Well - what a beautiful morning it was!

I was so excited about getting to the street fair and getting set up - we were up at 6 to pack the car and get down there - tons of stuff to set up.

So, as I said we got there early - really excited by the location - one of the busiest spots on Argyle Street - guaranteed to have a crowd! And I must say, I was really pleased with the way the display turned out. The tent was like a giant soft box - just perfect for mini portrait sessions!
Unfortunately - I forgot to take the sign telling people they could come in for a free portrait! Oh well - still lots of people around. Several inquiries for family portrait sittings and wedding photography, so all in all we were going really well. Aside from the humungous obnoxious loudspeaker located directly in front of our tent which required me to yell at almost every potential customer. They were yelling back though, so I think they understood :)

The day was incredibly hot, I was dressed so wrong - I had my comfy red shoes on but they're really a winter thing and way too warm. I welcomed the cool change that came after 1. Ok, so the sun went away, but it wasn't quite so hot and we thought that was pretty good too. I went and got us a couple of iced coffees (Voltage) for a little pick up to get us through the last couple of hours.

Around 2 I said to Brian "we'll start packing up the little stuff about 2:30, and we should be ready to take the tent down spot on 3pm". Good plan. Didn't eventuate.

You see, about 5 minutes after that we felt a few gentle drops of rain. No worries - we're in a tent. We just pulled the big banner inside, and the big framed 20x30 in print that you can see on the easel there. It all fit nicely inside the tent - no worries - it was only light rain after all.

As we were calmly finishing our Voltages from Gloria Jeans (yummy yummy, and they were particularly strong. Good - we needed the caffeine), we heard a rumble of thunder. Wow - that was close ...

Then the tornado hit. Or cyclone. Or whatever the @#$ it was. But I feel I have more in common with Dorothy from Wizard of Oz than a pair of red shoes.

I'm not sure if any of you have ever seen a 3x3 metre tent lifted off the ground - I'm sorry to say that now I have. And it must have been quite a sight for the spectators watching as it almost carried me away. We were on opposite sides of the tent trying to keep it on the ground - yelling over the huge wind that came up from nowhere.

Things deteriorated very quickly after that. As I was holding down one side of the tent, trying to keep it from crashing into the screaming girl in the tent beside us, Brian was trying to hold down the other side with one hand, keep the banner from crashing with a foot - grabbing the centre post for support (and to keep from becoming airborne). Really, there wasn't much we could do about it when the big 20x30 inch framed print of Will and Keina came crashing down ... and poor little Marlena dancing in her wedding dress was flattened. Talk about Trash the Dress ...

Finally, when it seemed like we were about to lift off for real, a man emerged from the crowd and anchored himself to the centre of the tent. (Thank you whoever you are - we owe you big time). With his help we started ripping down the sides of the tent, to prevent some of the sail-like action that was going on. It mightn't have been so bad if it weren't for the torrential rain ....

Totally out of control - I just held onto the tent with the stranger, while Brian ran back and forth taking stuff away from the street to the relative shelter of the footpath. Camera gear, easels, damaged displays, background cloths, brochures, credit card slips, mobile phones ... all sitting in a giant amorphous wet mass in front of Blooms.

Finally a policewoman came along, and with her help we finally got it all under control. So glad she didn't hurt herself when she went sliding along the street on one of my plastic display signs. Nobody hurt seriously - prints damaged, tent destroyed, glow gone. As we were loading the car with sodden cloths and cameras and easels, the sun came out. Wonderful ....

After folding Marlena several times (too damaged to keep) and shoving her into a bin, I clicked my heels 3 times, and was transported home.

Will be frantically ordering more prints and frames tomorrow to replace my damaged display - Wedding Expo at Sweeneys next Sunday. INDOORS.