Art in the Park a Wash for Windsor

There were tents here.

Hopefully this nice booth is not permanently damaged.

Mud Soup

Water everywhere.

A time to reflect

Packing it in.

Swampland

Even under the big tent.

This one usually has lines of people around it.

At 8:30 A.M. today (Sunday, June 06, 2010) all was eerily quiet save for the sound of feet sloshing through Willistead Park.  Vendors were already starting to pack up their soggy inventory and effects and making their way out of town.  By eleven thirty, Windsor's Art in the Park was officially cancelled.   Most vendors were quiet and resigned to the hand dealt by Mother Nature.  A couple of them were overheard talking about the curse of Windsor's Art in the Park.  Of coarse they were referring to the rainy weather that always seems to plague the event.

For over a week Windsor's festivity planners and patrons alike had their fingers crossed hoping that the long term forcast for this weekend would change.  It did not.  During Friday evening a massive wind and electrical storm tore its way through Windsor downing trees and hydro lines.   Art in the Park was stopped dead in its tracks.  Music fans were crammed into a festival tent for as long as they could wait but that evening was cut short.  Downed trees in the vicinity of Willistead Park cut power to much of that neighbourhood for the following seventeen hours.  One tree on Monmouth snapped in half taking  a 16,000 volt power line to the ground.  Even Tim Hortons was down for the count.  High winds tossed large temporary street signs from the Wyandotte Street construction project into parked cars while on Argyle a very mature tree missed a historical brownstone by inches.

 The following day Art in the Park showed signs of redemption.  Parking in Old Walkerville was near impossible to find and the streets were swarming with patrons.  All looked like it was going well.  Once again, as the evening rolled around it started to rain cancelling music events for that evening.  By 10:30 P.M. thunder showers brought more lightning and gusting wind.  Again the music venues were cancelled.  It poured rain all night.  As morning rolled around the festival's fate was obviously sealed.  Six to eight inches of water covered much of Willistead Park.  Even the  large festival tents had several inches of water under them. 

As vendors waded in bare feet to and from their vehicles a radio, tuned  to CKLW, was covering  the  news about the devastation from tornados that had spun Leamington into a state of emergency.  In a way that seemed to make everything at Willistead Park OK. 

If it Wasn't for Bad Luck...

This year Parks and Rec worked at a feverish pace for two weeks primping the Park for this year's event.  Gardens were cultivated and planted, weeds were wacked , garbage was picked up, trees were pruned and some even felled, and a section of wrought iron fence that was taken out by a drunk driver was repaired and re-set.  Fresh garbage barrels and new picnic tables were positioned throughout the park.  All for naught? Let's just say that the effort did not go unnoticed.  Thank you Green Dogs!

The Dirt on Art in the Park

Not that long ago the question was posed:  "What to do with all of the dirt from the retention basin at the riverfront?"  Could this be the lead-up to a marriage made in heaven?  Since Willistead Park is essentially a soup bowl why not bring some af that dirt over to fix this perennial problem?  Art in the Park aside, every resident and regular visitor to Willistead Park knows that even the slightest rain leaves the park pocked with puddles.  Why not do something good for this park and it patrons and how about those wonderful artisans who come here from all over Ontario, Canada and the U.S. to sell their wares.  How about simply doing a good turn for the Rotary Club?  Perhaps if we do, they will keep coming.  Perhaps if we don't they won't.  This may not be wild speculation as the Town of Tecumseh might attest.