Winnipeg Folk Festival, Bird’s Hill Park, Saturday July 9. There isn’t much to report. It was a sunny windy day, 32 degrees, humidex in the 40’s. I stayed home, visited my parents, shopped, cut the grass because it wasn’t raining and I was mainly in the shade, and didn’t visit the Festival until after 8:00 PM. I didn’t go backstage. I saw that the entrance path across Snowberry Field had dried up at one end, where the asphalt ends as the trail emerges onto the field, but there was still a bog where the trail goes into trees again. There was a lot of mud and standing water on the path towards Shady Grove and the backstage.
By the time I left for the site, the forecast had shifted to include a chance of a severe thunderstorm. When I got home this morning, I checked the radar again. There were storms that seemed to form over the corner of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota and track northeast over the lakes, missing Winnipeg and Bird’s Hill. So far Sunday has been hot, cloudy and windy but the rain has stayed away.
I spent my free time at the Bur Oak stage, reading and then went on shift at Site West. There was still standing water in spots around the Bluestem stage, but it had dried out a lot. There was mud in the record tent and the family tent.
I spent my shift around the Firefly Palace which is the nighttime use of the family entertainment stage. During the day there are games, including hula hoops, juggling with clubs and plates, frisbees, soccer balls etc. The Family area crew had stored gear under a tarp but the evening patrons had hula hoops and juggling articles and were using them. There were some steel pegs in the field to secure some log stumps. I don’t know the daytime use but the logs and spikes were hazards in the dark. Fence-jumpers, damages fences drunks, lost kids/parents (usually can’t navigate back from the port-a-potties in the dark. Lots of activity, not boring. One of the shows was music played by a VJ against a Bollywood film for a video dance party.
Didn’t hear any other music, had a good time.
WFF 2005 Saturday
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3 responses to “WFF 2005 Saturday”
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I was talking to mom the other day and she said they had been so much water in your area and the farmers were having a poor time.
How were the mosquitos out there? That was the other thing mom was complaining about, that and the guy who’s in charge of mosquito abatmment in Winnipeg. He appearently doesn’t want to spray. Probably to save the city money, Mike was complaining last year that the city was always out of money, I expect it hasn’t changed. -
The mosquito situation at Bird’s Hill Park wasn’t bad. During the days, it was hot and windy and it wasn’t a problem. I had more trouble with those little flies that bite at the ankle – too fast to swat. I use Muskol – a high DEET repellant after they show up. The problem is can’t touch anything with plastic or ink after getting that on my hands. The squeeze bottle is the easiest to carry, because pump sprays tend to leak in my pack and mess up a lot of stuff. Mosquitoes were more aggressive when it got dark but a little DEET worked.
Mosquitoes in Wpg are many and aggressive. The new City entomologist doesn’t want to go to aerial spraying (fogging) but it isn’t just the cash. Most other Cities don’t spray for adult mosquitoes. Yes they spray ditches with larvicide etc like Wpg does, but few Cities fog. At least that’s what some stories say. Do they fog in Minneapolis-St. Paul? Winnipegers are used to it and think it works, but it isn’t all that clear. When the City sprays, there are protests by people who like a pristine natural environment, things get tense and the newspapers have a lot of stories and quotes etc. He is trying to avoid fogging. -
I rarely sit out side but this year the mosqitoes have not been bad. I am going by the lack of them in the house. I seen three or four, even in the recent very wet time. We had a long dry spell before the june rains and I’m sure that helped.
I just got the Bubba Ho-tep score cd in the mail…it’s by a guy called Brian Tyler. He’s done a few other scores mostly for movies ihaven’t seen. The album is great, lots of great twangy guitar music and also some great orchstration. If you haven’t seen the movie give yer self a treat and check it out. Very fun. Or maybe, not to your taste, very funny to me. i am also a fan of the Director Don Coscarelli’s great Phantasm series. The first is the best and the other two are fun to watch.
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