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Today was Wonderwood Springs Pride, which I'd been looking forward to. Wonderwood Springs is an art project / cafe by local artist Mike Bennet. This year he reduced the amount of vendors by half favor of having a stage and also the tables for his new food cart. I missed having so many vendors, but it was a good choice because it made a lot more room for people to sit and just be, which was important.
Here are some stickers I bought:
A lot of what I am about to say is going to sound like complaining, because it is, but it's not Mike's fault his event was so mobbed with people, had at least 5 vloggers there to make content, had at least one vendor not with the event blocking the sidewalk and trying to make sales, and also political canvassers drawn by the crowd stopping people on the sidewalk and further causing crowds. 5 content creators, one illegal vendor, etc might not sound like much, but it's a small event and it would have been nutty levels of crowded even without them. Mike does a lot of cool and new events and experiments and he can't ever know if it's going to be feast or famine crowd wise. It's all inherently a bit chaotic.
There are two vendors whose booths I never got a good look at because they were mobbed. I even did rounds of the booths five times. Only way to get close would have been to be pushy and being solo and over a certain age, people react really badly when I try to wedge my way in, so I don't anymore.
Also, I felt like one of the vloggers was following me closely. You know how some of the really serious content creators look like drugged labrador retrievers? They have a big constant grin to look friendly, they look wide eyed and are looking around, but are very careful to never make any eye contact, making them look like a dog on pain meds. They try to project friendly, but are staring into the middle distance to keep anyone from feeling like they are being looked at in particular and if you try to catch their eye they don't respond. A girl like that kept being near me and once when I looked behind me, she suddenly looked away. I didn't think anything of it. Then it happened again. I realized she was shooting over my shoulder to get that engaging 2nd person POV of someone enjoying the festival. Like how a lot of games do the 2nd person over-the-shoulder POV. Then I was like 'nah, not me and my dumb backpack'. Then I turned suddenly and yup, Drugged Dog Expression Lady had been shooting over my shoulder to get very 'experiential' type footage. It's a good technique if, yanno, you have a willing content creation partner.
So, I walked away and went to Safeway for a drink and a snack. The crowds at the event were so bad people didn't even know where the food lines ended and started, so a bit away from the mess seemed good. When I got back Mike had closed the food cart to consolidate the food service to the cafe counter, run a clear line and was personally running around delivering food orders.
Things were a good bit calmer, but the same booths were still mobbed. So, I just went off to wander St John.
In short, I love the project and that it's continuing, I love that it gained a partner charity, replacing some vendors with a stage and a seating area was good, I am glad that I was able to throw money at one artist and I expect to be back next year. But man, that was not a good time today.
Here are some stickers I bought:
A lot of what I am about to say is going to sound like complaining, because it is, but it's not Mike's fault his event was so mobbed with people, had at least 5 vloggers there to make content, had at least one vendor not with the event blocking the sidewalk and trying to make sales, and also political canvassers drawn by the crowd stopping people on the sidewalk and further causing crowds. 5 content creators, one illegal vendor, etc might not sound like much, but it's a small event and it would have been nutty levels of crowded even without them. Mike does a lot of cool and new events and experiments and he can't ever know if it's going to be feast or famine crowd wise. It's all inherently a bit chaotic.
There are two vendors whose booths I never got a good look at because they were mobbed. I even did rounds of the booths five times. Only way to get close would have been to be pushy and being solo and over a certain age, people react really badly when I try to wedge my way in, so I don't anymore.
Also, I felt like one of the vloggers was following me closely. You know how some of the really serious content creators look like drugged labrador retrievers? They have a big constant grin to look friendly, they look wide eyed and are looking around, but are very careful to never make any eye contact, making them look like a dog on pain meds. They try to project friendly, but are staring into the middle distance to keep anyone from feeling like they are being looked at in particular and if you try to catch their eye they don't respond. A girl like that kept being near me and once when I looked behind me, she suddenly looked away. I didn't think anything of it. Then it happened again. I realized she was shooting over my shoulder to get that engaging 2nd person POV of someone enjoying the festival. Like how a lot of games do the 2nd person over-the-shoulder POV. Then I was like 'nah, not me and my dumb backpack'. Then I turned suddenly and yup, Drugged Dog Expression Lady had been shooting over my shoulder to get very 'experiential' type footage. It's a good technique if, yanno, you have a willing content creation partner.
So, I walked away and went to Safeway for a drink and a snack. The crowds at the event were so bad people didn't even know where the food lines ended and started, so a bit away from the mess seemed good. When I got back Mike had closed the food cart to consolidate the food service to the cafe counter, run a clear line and was personally running around delivering food orders.
Things were a good bit calmer, but the same booths were still mobbed. So, I just went off to wander St John.
In short, I love the project and that it's continuing, I love that it gained a partner charity, replacing some vendors with a stage and a seating area was good, I am glad that I was able to throw money at one artist and I expect to be back next year. But man, that was not a good time today.
