| STONE SOUP MUSIC FAIRE |
| Dates: August 27-28 2011 Grover Beach. CA |
Friday, August 27. Almost didn't make it. I had planned on leaving Hayward around 12:30 pm and had pretty much everything timed down to the minute. I had to drive out to San Pablo in the morning to pick up some things from a supplier. I left home at 9:15 and expected to get there around 10:00. As I was heading down Highway 238 I thought I heard a snapping-kind of sound and then some rattling. I turned down my radio to listen better. You know, a lot of times when you are listening to music or whatever, it can sound like there's something wrong with your car. My exit to Highway 580 was coming up shortly. I then heard another snap and I heard some dragging sounds coming from beneath my van. It was very loud. I flicked on my emergency flashers, as I wasn't quite sure what was going on. As I approached the turnoff, I decided to make a quick right onto Foothill Blvd, because I determined that I was either going to bring my van home or find a shop someplace. I immediately had visions of myself sitting on my sofa the entire weekend watching TV.
I DROVE SLOWLY DOWN Foothill Blvd. dragging the muffler beneath the chassis. It made quite a bit of noise and I am sure that sparks were flying. I looked for someplace to turn into, preferably some kind of auto repair shop. I pulled into a Chevron Station to check things out. Of course, the auto repair part vanished years ago. I left there and continued down Foothill, attracting attention as I went. I had something like Midas Mufflers in mind, but when I turned onto A Street, I spotted a Firestone place that did repairs. I passed by it and drove a couple blocks to see what other choices I had....... none. I turned around in a driveway, noisy muffler and all and drove into the lot at Firestone. I was welcomed there as several employees were standing outside the 'bays' wondering what all the commotion was. They determined that the brackets holding my muffler in place had broken, so that was all the repairs needed. They also charged me a hundred bucks for the labor, which in reality (after then went to a supply store) it only took 10 minutes. Just my luck. I left around 10:30 and headed home, too later to head to San Pablo, because I had intentions of picking up my wife at 12:15.
FINALLY LEFT HOME at 1:05pm and headed down 880 over to 101. Clear sailing all the way down to Atascadero and Highway 41. Our motel was in SLO, but we had enough time to run over to Morro Bay and get some fish (halibut) and chips at Giovanni's, where we have been going for around 30 years. I parked our van in front and ordered two halibut and chips. I was shocked when the guy told me how much I owed. My head spun around 3 times when he said $27.95. "Huh," I responded. "Two halibut and chips?" I asked. He then said that they were $12.95 each. Two more spins of the head. Whoa. Last time I was here (October) it was $10.95, and they raised the price a couple dollars. I then told the guy I had been coming here for many years, but the price now is just too much. Of course, I paid for my food, but I told the guy, "Good bye. I won't be coming here anymore. The food has been great, but that is a way too much for take-out fish and chips."
WE DROVE DOWN TO SLO and checked in at the motel and then continued to Grover Beach, taking the 'scenic route' on PCH through Pismo and along the ocean. We took a left at Grande and drove about a mile or so to 9th Street where the event was located. I had to circle around to find the person in charge of the vendors. She showed us to our space, located almost all the way to the end of the street.
WE SET UP OUR CANOPY along with our grids; placed our merchandise inside and closed it up with the side covers. It was just getting dark, so we left, mission accomplished.
VERY QUIET NIGHT. I put a big sign out in front of the motel. Elephants and horses are not allowed. Didn't watch much else on TV other than the hurricane reports on CNN and The Weather Channel. Didn't compare much to the Earthquakes and tsunami's but still considerable damage.
Saturday, August 28.
TOM BODETT CALLED AT 6:00 and we were on our way by 6:30. Decided to take 101 over to Arroyo Grande and pick up some donuts on the way to the Festival. Arrived there, dropped off the wife and parked across the street. Upon returning, we then pulled back the side covers on the canopy and we went to work setting up our display, which took nearly 3 hours, since we just took our time.,
I WONDERED WHAT KIND of foot traffic we would get since we were located all the way at the end of the street. However, we did get a good number because a lot of people entered the show from that side. Sales were slow in coming and sales were slow in going. People just not buying much from me or anybody else. Maybe they were just looking for the unusual stuff. Maybe they were looking for socks. There were a small number of vendors that did pretty good. I estimated approximately 40 vendors and there was a nice array of products. I had all sides open on my booth and that didn't even help my sales.
DOGS JUST WALKED BY with their owners in tow. Cute one's, ugly ones. Mean one's, tame one's. Fat one's, skinny one's. Ugly one's, uglier one's. They all were here at Grover Beach's Annual Stoned Soup Dog and Music Festival. I don't think that they had any dog events here, but there were more than just a couple hundred of them. Not much barking, no fights and very little growling. Maybe they drugged them before coming over. Some butt-sniffing and I didn't see any wet spots around my space. By comparison, I saw only one dog at a Filipino Fiesta two weeks earlier in Stockton. I wonder why. Saw a lot of BBQ at that one.
THERE WERE A DOZEN FOOD VENDORS AT THE FESTIVAL. I picked up a Bratwurst and a Philly from the same vendor. My wife had the Brat and said it was okay. Cost eight bucks and was nowhere near as big or tasty as the grand-daddy of Sausages - Lockeford. My Philly Cheese Steak rated around 3.748392. Kind of slopped together and not too tasty. Cooked it with some kind of unfamiliar flavoring or sauce and it took away from the overall taste.
IT SEEMED LIKE THIS was perhaps a middle-class white crowd. 90 percent? I think that these were mostly of the local variety and there didn't appear to be very many tourists or out-of-towners. They certainly left their money elsewhere. There were not long lines at the food booths and bunches of them sat around and listened to the sounds. You could notice that there were pauses in between the performances because there would be an increase in the number of people walking around. You could tell that they had been watching the entertainment because some of them still had the chairs stuck to their butts. I wasn't too close to the stage, so I wasn't able to tell if there were any air-guitarists around. The music wasn't too bad. No obnoxious rap and a little Mexican music. When that started on Sunday afternoon, I knew it was time to start packing and I surely was not waiting for the fat lady to sing.
THERE WERE A FEW PEOPLE THAT WANTED huge discounts. "Can I have this for five dollars", one person asked holding up one of my $10 shoulder bags. "No, this is not a Flea Market. You can go to the Flea Market tomorrow in San Luis tomorrow." Kids came. Kids went. Grabbing this, grabbing that. Hee-hee this, hee-hee that. There would be groups of five kids, four kids, three kids wandering aimlessly up and down the street coming into my booth. Each would pick up a different item and play with it or try it on. Ya know they didn't have any money. This is their big event of the year in this town, I guess. There were a small number of booths that required a five-tattoo minimum to enter, but they were few and far between. Not too far, actually. The show is only 2 blocks long.
I CALLED THIS ONE LADY 'THIRTY-TWO.' THERE WAS THIS 34-YEAR-OLD lady that came into the booth and began picking up things. After she grabbed perhaps half-a-dozen items, I began counting out loud. I figured that she could break the all-time record of 27 grabs set by some young kid a couple years ago. I began counting aloud.....9, 10, 11......17,18.... and she was only five feet into my booth. She was going to challenge the record. She was getting up there. 21, 22, 23. Wow. She walked around to the other side and continued grabbing things. 28, 29, 30. She broke the record. She picked up a couple other items making it a grand total of 32. I guess she had a 'pick-up' fetish. You wouldn't know it by just looking at her, ya know?
THE WEATHER WAS OKAY throughout the day. Started off cloudy and remained that way until the afternoon. A little breeze, but nothing like what we have experienced up in Mike Knapp's Parking Lot in Cambria, some 45 miles to the north. Very mild with temps around 70. Occasionally the sun would dart around the clouds but we didn't have any serious sunshine until the clock struck 2.
EVEN THOUGH THE SHOW ENDED AT AROUND 8:00pm, we began moving our stuff around in preparation of closing up around 5:30, eventually leaving by 6:30. No way we were going to stay until the darkness of the night arrived.
Sunday, August 28.
SUNDAY WAS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME. More sun earlier in the morning, but noticeably cooler. Not bad. Kids in, kids out. Dogs up the street, dogs down the street. However, there seemed to be fewer of them. Maybe they stayed at home to watch reruns of Lassie Come Home. Fewer people too. Probably sleeping off their hangovers from all that partying the night before in Wild Grover Beach. Don't know for sure. Nobody tells me nothin. I guess that's one of those things where 'what happens in Grover Beach stays in Grover Beach.'
DON'T FORGET TO PICK UP YOUR 'DOGS OF GROVER BEACH' Calendar at your favorite Pet Emporium. Some really cute snouts there. Be sure to read their profiles.
THE MOST EVENTFUL THING thing that happened was one of the vendors having his wallet stolen at a local gas station. I know him pretty well, (the victim, not the thief) but I won't give any more info on him. Apparently, he placed his wallet on the counter and somebody stole it. I don't know how, why, etc. No details. I saw him packing up when I arrived and he headed home shortly after. He wanted to get home to call his CC companies. Probably too late because whoever has those cards is going to use them in the first couple hours to get gas, beer, guns (just kidding), tacos, burritos, etc. I would imagine and am hopeful that he is only responsible for $50 liability on each card. Gosh, what a bad thing to happen. He had a good day on Saturday. He had what people attending a music festival would want.
THE DAY PRETTY MUCH DRAGGED ON AND ON AS PEOPLE CONTINUALLY walked past my booth not even looking. Pretty much the same..... up and down the two streets. A lot of the vendors didn't get very many sales and left dismayed. I knew I wasn't going to make a lot, but I wanted to get away from home for a weekend, so I booked this one. I did not make my expenses and most of the people that spent time in a motel were up Shit River. We did have a good number of van sleepers around the place, so they were able to cut their expenses.
FOR LUNCH I PICKED UP a Taco Salad which was somewhat okay, but was lacking in a number of tasty components, such as sour cream, etc. Chunks of meat on the bottom of the greasy shell, piled with lettuce and stuff, tomatoes and cheese. That was seven bucks. I picked up another Bratwurst for my wife from a different place and she said it was okay. Six bucks as opposed to the one I bought on Saturday. Okay, not great.
WE BEGAN PACKING AROUND 4:00 and expected to bring in the van at 5:30 and get out of there by 6:15. Everything went off fine and we did leave at 6:13. Not bad. Pretty much smooth sailing all the way home except for a couple tiny backups. Only took 3 1/2 hours. Decent for over 225 miles.