Festival Round Up
So many things happened this weekend, that it is tough to do any of it justice.
Needless to say, we feel the Festival was a success. We had about 100 registered attendees, and maybe another 50 or so that came and went throughout the day.
Friday afternoon, DeJay and Fuzzy from Niner arrived with their rolling home and demo bikes, and we went out for a quick ride after I closed the shop. It was great, in a humbling sort of way. Those two didn't even bat an eye at the climb up to Jose, and they were both riding single speeds!
We finished the night at the Alchemist, where they had tapped their special Festival brew, a delicious smokey porter type of beer, that went down way too easily.
Saturday morning, we got up super early and went to the festival site where I set up our tent and repair stand. The weather was beautiful, blue sky and no clouds. Our Oakley rep set his tent up, and was loaning out cool new shades to experience on trail. Anyone who hasn't had an opportunity to check out the new Radar glasses really should try some on, they are sweet.
I had to open the shop at 10, so off I went. Coincidentally, the State of Vermont had a tax holiday this past weekend. I will say that while the numbers for Saturday weren't too shabby, I expected that there would be more folks buying. I guess folks were using this weekend as an opportunity to clear Best Buy out of big screen TVs. Oh well. I did sell 3 RIP 9s though.
DeJay and Fuzzy were getting lots of folks stoked on the big wheels. I was really glad they came, they brought the festival element with them (or maybe it was the several cases of New Belgium beer).
Saturday night was the big party at Waterbury Wings, my neighbors. The place was packed. We had a raffle and giveaways.
Sunday was another early one, and it unfortunately started to rain. The Stowe ride was cancelled, but the Waterbury folks persevered. It wasn't raining that hard and the canopy provided adequate shelter. We had a couple of group rides in the morning and afternoon. The Waitsfield ride went off on time, but I had offered to let Mandy ride as she pretty much organized the whole event. I felt I should do at least something, and opted to help with tear down and clean up.
We had just begun to unload all the small bits and pieces out of the cars when the sky really let loose. We scurried as fast as we could to get it all indoors, and then went and hid in the Alchemist for some late lunch/early dinner. I was pooped!
DeJay and Fuzzy hung out for two nights, their next stop is Mount Snow for next weekend's NORBA races. They left this morning, hopefully well rested and caught up on laundry.
Everyone I spoke with had nothing but positive things to say about the event. Obviously, there are some things that could have been done differently, but hey, this is the first time we've ever thrown a festival! We had some good ideas pop up over the last couple of days, which will make next year's event even better.
Needless to say, we feel the Festival was a success. We had about 100 registered attendees, and maybe another 50 or so that came and went throughout the day.
Friday afternoon, DeJay and Fuzzy from Niner arrived with their rolling home and demo bikes, and we went out for a quick ride after I closed the shop. It was great, in a humbling sort of way. Those two didn't even bat an eye at the climb up to Jose, and they were both riding single speeds!
We finished the night at the Alchemist, where they had tapped their special Festival brew, a delicious smokey porter type of beer, that went down way too easily.
Saturday morning, we got up super early and went to the festival site where I set up our tent and repair stand. The weather was beautiful, blue sky and no clouds. Our Oakley rep set his tent up, and was loaning out cool new shades to experience on trail. Anyone who hasn't had an opportunity to check out the new Radar glasses really should try some on, they are sweet.
I had to open the shop at 10, so off I went. Coincidentally, the State of Vermont had a tax holiday this past weekend. I will say that while the numbers for Saturday weren't too shabby, I expected that there would be more folks buying. I guess folks were using this weekend as an opportunity to clear Best Buy out of big screen TVs. Oh well. I did sell 3 RIP 9s though.
DeJay and Fuzzy were getting lots of folks stoked on the big wheels. I was really glad they came, they brought the festival element with them (or maybe it was the several cases of New Belgium beer).
Saturday night was the big party at Waterbury Wings, my neighbors. The place was packed. We had a raffle and giveaways.
Sunday was another early one, and it unfortunately started to rain. The Stowe ride was cancelled, but the Waterbury folks persevered. It wasn't raining that hard and the canopy provided adequate shelter. We had a couple of group rides in the morning and afternoon. The Waitsfield ride went off on time, but I had offered to let Mandy ride as she pretty much organized the whole event. I felt I should do at least something, and opted to help with tear down and clean up.
We had just begun to unload all the small bits and pieces out of the cars when the sky really let loose. We scurried as fast as we could to get it all indoors, and then went and hid in the Alchemist for some late lunch/early dinner. I was pooped!
DeJay and Fuzzy hung out for two nights, their next stop is Mount Snow for next weekend's NORBA races. They left this morning, hopefully well rested and caught up on laundry.
Everyone I spoke with had nothing but positive things to say about the event. Obviously, there are some things that could have been done differently, but hey, this is the first time we've ever thrown a festival! We had some good ideas pop up over the last couple of days, which will make next year's event even better.
Labels: Vermont Mountain Bike Festival
posted by mandy at 8:50 PM
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