Hail No! Del Yeah! Tell us your storm stories...

[DelFest]

Were you blown away by DelFest? Tell us your stories and how you survived the Del-uge of 2009

[David Warring]

I came as a recycling volunteer to the show and earned the tittle of garbage Dave by the staff for my service :) thank you guys and it was a pleasure picking up garbage for you ! I had just decided to get a cold drink and relax in the grand stands for a few with no clue it was gonna rain and after 5 minutes of being inside it kinda started to rain to a few minutes later turn into hail and wind, with what looked like just sheets of water and I could see the stage tents get blown in the air along with a few vinders but then it stopped so I started for the entrace to go help put it back to gether and round two began and that was a little intimidating as I watched large hail beat to the ground and vendors row indront of the grand stands began to blow away as pizza for the people was gone as well as kettle corn and right on down the line. this wind blew there big glass cased over and atleast 10 feet away as we watched the ATM and its huricane flaps slowly fall to the ground as the machine toppled over. Personally I don't mind the storms because I love to watch the people turn the community power on and love there neighbor, I went to the stage and helped put the 3 stage tents back together and then went to the field and waded through water until LEFT OVER SALMON came on picking up every piece of garbage and opening up chairs to dry after I had already fulfilled my 12 hour volunteer status. A big shout out to the expresso guys in vendors row who plugged in some Garcia and gave me a cup of joe to keep my rhythm up during the task.

[David Warring]

David Warring you can e-mail me at [e-mail] for anyone who remembers me taking pictures or picking up trask- sweeettt

[pat dinges]

Great pics David! Thank you so much for posting them.

I started out on Trash but had a little incident with my finger Thursday night...

pat

[Kathy R]

This was my first music festival EVER!! And let me say that all others after this will pale in comparison. I was with a dear friend who was working the show as one of the production crew. During a break on his stage we wandered over to the grandstand area to see Sam Bush. Once the rain started coming down in big drops he took me over to front of house (sound central for the main stage) to take cover under their tent. I stood back for a moment and watched as the guys quickly covered the equipment with tarps and got ready to ride out what we thought was going to be a short spring/summer shower. It quickly became obvious that this was no ordinary quick storm and the radios started buzzin with news from the stage. My friend was called away to help "batten down the hatches" there and I was left with Darren, Sam's sound guy and another member of the crew. The sound board was tarped very well and we held that down as the wind picked up. Other festival goers were invited in for cover if they helped to hold down the tent. We all held on to the framework as the winds blew and the hail came down. We bonded during that hour and I am sorry that I don't remember or even get most of their names. But I will never forget their faces. During one of the lulls my friend came back to check on us and give us an update as to what was going on outside of our little world. And like a shot he was off again. When it was finally over Darren thanked us all for helping save front of house had it not been for those brave festival goers that stuck it out in that tent helping us to hold it in place we might have lost all of the sound equipment and most likely shutting down all shows in the grandstand scheduled for Sunday. Despite all of this I had the best time. And to all of those people in that little tent my name is Kathy and I would love to hear from all of you again..my email is [e-mail] Peace and love to you all!

[Merlavage Images]

Here are some pics from the storm...

http://www.merlavageimages.com/gallery/8311336_cjgf5

[Kathy R]

you caught me in a couple of your photos after the storm walking to the main stage to meet up with my friend. frames 25 & 26. LOL

[pat dinges]

More great photos! So interesting to see how the storm looked. So much damage...
pat

[pat dinges]

HI,

Would it be ok to post your images on the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association's website?

pat

[Susan Davis]

I was there, under our tent on the main field ....The Appalachian Independent, free, online newspaper. We knew rain was heading our way as we had gotten a phone call from Garrett County, just west of the area. But, we were simply expecting rain. So, we stayed when the first wet came and thought, no problem. Suddenly the storm blew in over the mountain and down into the river valley. Surrounding areas got some rain and wind, but the eye of the storm was right over Delfest....See Delfest Deluge at appindie.org for the complete story and photos...Anything anyone who was there tells you, believe....it was an amazing storm.

[pat dinges]

Good article and photos!
pat

[christopher bell]

We decided to pack up our 3 kids ( ages 5, 23 months, and 1 month), and head to Delfest.
Some people might remember us as the people that brought a baby swing to camp out!
On Saturday, we had just enjoyed an air conditioned Del family show for kids, with a surprise
visit from Sam Bush. Chris, my husband, decided that we needed to try and take naps, so
off we went to our campsite. The children refused sleep, so while Chris tried to catch up on
a few Zzzz's, I sat under our canopy and the kids and I had some snacks, while the baby
hung out in her swing. It starts to cool down a little which was fabulous, and I started to get
a little jealous of my dear husband who was in dream land. It starts to sprinkle, so I start
pulling some of our items under the canopy. I try to get Chris's attention, but he is having
a hard time comprehending why exactly I am waking him up because of a little rain, but then
we see a crack of lightning and hear the thunder. The sprinkling turns into, as Forrest Gump
would say, "big, ol' fat rain", and we scoop the kids up and hunker down into our tent. As I
hold the baby, I notice I am getting rained on, what a pleasant surprise! Our tent is leaking!!!
So we try moving different items around to keep them from getting too wet. Our Son, the 5
year old, is very concerned about the thunder, as is his little sister, at this point the baby
is sleeping. Just as soon as we tell them it is just a little storm, and it will be over soon, the
wind picks up. The wind picks up even more to where Chris has to stand up and try to hold the
tent to keep it from falling in on us. Needless to say, our two oldest children are in hysterics,
and as the wind gets even worse and rain comes pouring in from the side of the tent, we decide
to make a mad dash for the truck. I take over holding the tent up while Chris runs out with our
23 month old, (of course I'm still holding the slumbering 1 month old), and when Chris comes
back for our 5 year old, I'm barely able to keep the tent up, so we make a mad dash out of the
tent. The hail started as soon as we exited the tent, so with the baby well covered, I'm being
pelted by these balls of hail, and I'm just thinking that we are about to die in a tornado, not
knowing much about moutain storms. We get into the truck, and watch lightening strike the
ground and people scrambling for shelter. The baby, by the way, is still sleeping. Our other 2
still concerned, but calm. When the rain let up a little I decided to jump out and I find our digital
camera and our camcorder in our tent, I also remember to grab my husbands Bible, (these items were succesfully saved).
As soon as I got back in the truck that is when the storm came back again! The storm had
blown away our canopy already, now it was totally leveling our tent! As we are listening to the
hail pound away at our truck we saw a huge bolt of lightening strike the ground around the
ARTIST camping area, and we are just hoping no one is injured. I was extremely panicked,
still thinking that we might be carried off like Dorothy in some killer twister, all the while trying
to appear vaguely calm for the kids. When the storm finally calms down, and people are
surveying the damage, you can really see the concern that everyone has for their neighbors.
Everyone checking on each other to make sure that everyone is okay. Chris starts pulling out
the soaked items from our tent, which has at least 3 inches of standing water and balls of ice.
Some friends of ours kindly let us stay in their camper for the night, since the tent is absolute
garbage now. My husband said as he was loading up our items into the truck, that many
different people were stopping by to see if there was anything they could do to help, this made
us feel so much better about the situation. The next morning our friends that we had stayed
with decided they were going to leave, so when they left we parked at their spot. A man named
Jeff and his family befriended us, helped us hang our wet belongings, made us coffee, set us
up under his canopy, took the baby's clothes and dried them for us in their RV, and even let us
stay in their RV, when there was a threat of another storm. In fact, if anyone knows "JEFF" , he was
staying near the front of RV parking, in the ADVENTURER RV, please tell him Thank You again
for us!!
We can't wait for Delfest 2010!!

[Steve Sherman]

That sounds like our story too. We have a 5yr 3yr and 6 month (and we brought our baby swing too, it was great). I took the kids for a walk to let my husband and 6 month old take a nap. They were napping under a canopy, while my boys and I went for a walk to hear Sam Bush and buy some shirts. The boys and I took cover in the ATM booth for a while and I am glad I decided to leave the music area. I walked back to the tent to find my husband and baby in our tent got the boys undressed and under our bags (they were shaking and crying it was very sad). Although the baby seemed fine and then our tent collapsed while we were in it. We put our air mattress and blankets on our heads. When the first round broke we hauled it to the car. We ended up leaving that night, we had so many nice folks help us clean up. I was stuck in the car with the kids while my husband cleaned up and we left. And we can't wait for Delfest 2010 either!!!!