JAZZ FEST

I’ve been looking forward to going to Jazz Fest for several weeks now. I had my schedule all highlighted as to who I wanted to hear and where I needed to be at a given time. I figured I could fit the food and crafts in between performances. Yesterday was the big day. The weather forecast was not pretty, but the rain was not supposed to come down until the night. By eleven o’clock, the sky was looking pretty bad, but no rain was actually falling. I put my faith in the weather forecaster and my sisters, my niece and I loaded into the car and were on our way. As we parked the car and started walking to the fairgrounds, we felt a few little drops. No big deal – it’s not supposed to come down until tonight!

 

 

We finally made it onto the grounds and began to hear the first strains of music. We made it to the Acura Stage where Frankie Ford was playing and decided we should get our food first and then find a place to sit and eat and enjoy the music. By the time we reached the food booths, the rain was beginning to come down harder, and by the time we purchased our soft shell crab sandwiches and Cuban sandwiches it was really raining hard. We ran for the nearest shelter and squirmed our way right into the middle of the tent , and the rains came down….and down…and down. Even tho we had our rain parkas on, we all got soaked, (but not as much as the people sitting on the edges of the tent). The lightning was flashing and the wind was blowing the rain around. The mood inside the tent was still festive however. One man borrowed Jen’s rain parka so that he could make a beer run. We were located directly across from the food booths, but the rain was so fierce that nobody wanted to leave. Finally, Jeanne couldn’t stand just looking at all the available food, and decided to make a run for the gumbo. She got soaked, but the gumbo was worth it!

After a while we disregarded the rain and made a run for the Gospel tent where we stayed for a while. We heard one group and then part of Shades of Praise. We were hoping to stay for Irma Thomas, but the weather kept getting worse and we still had to make a run for the car parked several blocks away. We left before Irma, didn’t get to see any of the crafts because all of the booths were closed down, didn’t get to buy any posters or music. My son Jay says that’s” part of the whole Jazz Fest experience” – well I guess we experienced everything!