Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2008 - Logistics and Lessons Learned

Logistics and Lessons Learned

• Freeze a few bottled waters.
• Pack a lunch or at least some snacks! Never know when your blood sugar will get wonky. Ain't gonna find any food vendor with a short line.
• If you have bad allergies and/or asthma, take your medicine and bring extra. Rest assured, you're going to have some kind of attack while you are out in the dirt and weeds.
• The nearest convenience store is down that busy one lane highway and even then they probably won't have what you need, so pack your necessities ahead of time and just plan on dragging some stuff with you AND going back to your car a time or two for supplies. DO NOT think "Ah. We'll just pick it up on our way to the festival..." because SERIOUSLY there's no where to shop nearby. You'd have to drive into Columbia or Ellicott and that's a schlep from the festival grounds.
  
• Bring hand sanitizer and wet wipes! You will need them. Water faucets are few and far between and you will be touching all manner of muck and grime. You'll be going in and out of real barns with real livestock, people. Plus, you may have to use a porta-potty or they may run out of toilet tissue in the regular restrooms. Don't be afraid to use the men's room either, especially since there are more women than men at these events. Just holler first to make sure the coast is clear.
  
• Bring lots of cash. Not too many vendors accept checks or credit cards.
• Bring a large expandable tote bag. Preferably, one of those crocheted or knit string bags that will stretch out pretty well for your yarn purchases.
• Backpacks are largely frowned upon, but after a while I wished I had one because my shoulders were starting to get sore from the weight of my shoulder tote bags.
• Wear pants with pockets so you have easy access to your money.
• Don't forget your sunscreen AND a baseball cap or floppy hat! I noticed quite a few folks turning beet red in the afternoon sun. I brought my SPF 70 Helioplex, but left it in the car that morning since it was overcast and wasn't about to schlep to the car again to fetch it, so I got a wee bit tan. I liked showing folks the tan line from my watch as I was standing in the sun waiting in the bathroom line. LOL! Yes, "little girl" Black folks do tan...and quite rapidly. It's amazing, I'll show you one day.
• If you haven't done so already, go to Vistaprint and get you some of those free business cards so you can exchange contact information with your friends at the event. You can even put your Ravelry avatar on them and, of course, your Ravelry screenname, email address, etc.
• Wear broken in shoes with gel inserts. I wore my leather clogs with Dr. Schol's Gel Sole Inserts for maximum comfort.
• I saw some ladies trying to be cute in their heels and sandals. That's a good way to break your ankle because you will be walking on rocks, dirt, grass, falling into gopher holes, the whole lot, so be sensible and bring a nice pair of broken in CLOSED TOED shoes.
  
• Don't make the mistake of wearing brand new shoes like I did. My brand new tennis shoes were rubbing the back of my heels and started forming a blister. Luckily, I brought my leather clogs w/ gel inserts, so I went back to the car to swap out shoes.
• Bring a rain poncho and rain boots for good luck! I heard from some veterans that whenever they brought rain gear, it doesn't rain and it seems to have worked again this year.
• Get one of those rain poncho that can double as a tarp because there aren't a whole lot of places to sit down and you might end up sitting on the grass. If you do plan on sitting in the grass, bring a bug bomb and/or bug spray because there are all kinds of chiggers, gnats, flies, ticks, etc. that I'm sure you don't want to bring home with you. I hate bug bites.
• Make sure you have your mobile phone charged (dont' forget your car charger) and have your vital phone numbers in there already, i.e friends, family that are going to be with you at the festival because it's easy to get separated.
• Wear easily recognizable clothing to help you find each other in the crowd. Something memorable that people will have remembered seeing, for instance, I just happened to wear my hot pink skull & crown t-shirt and that helped my friend Gwen be able to find me in a crowd. :) Then, if we had gotten separated she would have been able to ask folks in they saw a Black woman wearing a hot pink skull & crown shirt and they would be like, "YEAH! I just saw her a few minutes ago over by the ...."
• Invest in a Global Positioning System (GPS). Rent a car with one, get it on your mobile phone, buy one and put it in your car, but don't leave home without it. Maneuvering around the DC, VA, MD area is painful at the very least. The street signs are teeny and driving directions from MapQuest and Google maps vary wildly sometimes.
• It was a bit chilly in the AM, but by noon it was warm and a little muggy. I'm glad I didn't bring a jacket because that was one more thing I would have had to schlep.
• If you're not a people person and/or don't like huge hoards of people, take your anxiety medicine and/or come on Sunday when there might be less people milling about.