Instrument Lock up: A Glorified Coat Check

The Calgary Folk Festival has come and gone. Susan and I both volounteered, and spent a bunch of hours on duty, Susan in the Art Market, and me at the Artists' Instrument Lockup. The weather was hot and dry; much better than cold and wet. At one point on Saturday, I heard that the festival ran out of water. Our team coordinator made sure there was lots for us to drink in our tent, and on ice.

The set up was a tent right behind the main stage, in front of a semi-trailer with some stairs (built at the last minute, but they worked). Artists who wanted to would bring their gear to us, we'd tag it with a laminiated numbered tag, and give them a matching tag secured to thier ID badge. As the dated and politically incorrect saying goes, "no tickie, no washie." And the artists were all good with that; the apprecieated the rigid security. Only twice did someone need a guitar but not have thier tab, and we had to play the "describe exactly what's inside, and I'll give it to you if you're right" game. One was Sarah Harmer. The other one I made identify the band of capo he had in his case. He knew.

Here's two of the other volounteers at the tent, outside the trailer. You can see the stairs on the right hand side of the photo. We also had a flamingo. Dunno why.

And here's a look into the trailer when it was fairly full.

There were, apparently, far fewer standup basses this year than in previuos. There were only two in the trailer at any given time. Other years, they have had MANY. and the do take up a lot of space.