Festival at Sandpoint off to an electrical (but dry) start
The Festival at Sandpoint is off to an electrical, but not, soggy start.
The weather threatened several times during the FAS’s first week and each night, the show went on with not so much as a drop.
Last Thursday, lightning was striking all around Sandpoint and rain was falling three miles north, 10 miles south and in Clark Fork but somehow the Festival venue stayed dry and Poco and Firefall played to an appreciative crowd.
The plug was about to be pulled when a threatening cloud broke apart and disintegrated before the rain could hit thousands of dollars worth of electrical equipment and lightning could strike the highest metal object around - the main pole holding up the Festival tent.
The Festival is saving the fireworks for the finale on Sunday.
Longtime board member Will Menghini had been the unofficial weather guy for the Festival for many years. About six months out, he would start with the long, long, long range forecast and would tighten it up as we got closer to the opening night of the Festival.
Will passed away recently.
It was a few minutes after Will’s widow, Julie, and their lovely daughters accepted a framed print of this year’s Festival poster, that the weather cleared up enough for the show to go on.
The forecast this week calls for a small chance of rain. Ha! Fat chance. Where there was a Will, there is always a way.
Best concert so far? Saturday night’s wonderful combination of the Matsiko Children’s Choir, The Subdudes and Boz Scaggs. Look for the singing, drumming, dancing and heartwarming orphans and at-risk Ugandans to reappear at next year’s Festival.
Any favorites so far? Drop a note at the bottom of the column online at: bonnercountydailybee.com.
The good news is the Festival at Sandpoint is tracking ahead of making some money.
The bad news is tonight’s concert isn’t selling well and a slow night could sink the profitability ship. Today’s Michelle Shocked concert will be the best-kept secret of the Festival season.
Tell all your friends to meet you at the Festival tonight. You won’t be disappointed.
SHERIFF’S DISPATCH — Bonner County Sheriff’s Deputy Wiedebush was dispatched recently to the Taco Bell area at 11:36 p.m. for a “case for an animal problem involving a duck.”
Sometimes law enforcement isn’t all it’s quacked up to be. We’ll see who get the bill for this call …
The Keyes family just returned from a highly publicized vacation to Montana. On one day of our adventure, we went to the Montana State Fair. Went on the Zipper ride with Austin, 13, and saw the “World’s Shortest Woman!!!” with my daughter, Olivia, 9. Olivia took a ride on the wild side and we saw the Mermaid Woman, a unicorn horse (fakey in a jar of formaldehyde) and several other sideshow attractions.
Other than seeing a great rodeo, our personal highlight was the fact that Olivia took third place in the state cherry pit spitting contest for girls ages 8-17. After qualifying for the finals with a spit of 30 some feet, she took home the huge white ribbon with a 50-foot effort.
It should be reported that the two girls who beat her clearly were professionals and one reportedly had a can of snoose in her back pocket.
It was great to see a huge fair but I am ready for our fair that starts on Aug. 25.
SHERIFF’S DISPATCH, Part 2 - Sheriff’s deputies responded to a Cocolalla Loop road residence at 10:34 p.m. on a “report of a theft of compost.” Dirty, rotten criminals… friends don’t let friends steal compost.
Bad e-mail puns of the week:
• She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
• A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra because it was a weapon of math disruption.
• Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
• A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.