Tuesday, May 20, 2008

A job worse than craft fairs?

About 30 minutes before the parade, things didn't look so good. A steady rain was coming down - see pic below. The young man above took shelter under the same awning I was under, and I asked him about his cart full of the usual parade stuff for kids, plus umbrellas usually, but somehow his cart did not have this essential item for inclement weather. Didn't really need them - a faint rainbow appeared a bit later, and the rest of the day was fine! Turns out this is a family venture...... he, along with his dad, his sister, and his brother-in-law run a full time business doing parades, festivals, etc..... traveling around the country to stay in places that are having parade weather. They are based in Elmira, so this guy spent the night in his own bed, but these folks travel more than we do! They don't have to set up a booth though, the merchandise is relatively waterproof, and the day at a parade is pretty short. They had 8 carts rolling up and down the street, and judging just from the number of Dora the Explorer balloons floating away into the sky, business must have been pretty good. There was competition however, from another outfit from Buffalo, with smaller carts - the kind you roll to the grocery store with in the city. A picture of that group packing the van after the parade is below..... yep, just like us they have to pack the van afterwards! Luckily by then the stuff was pretty dry.

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