Wooo, what an ending!

[betsys]

Is everyone OK? Did the show go on?

We were in the audience waiting for the 1:30 Workshop Stage set when the air turned *electric* and we turned and fled, heard them announcing that they were holding off as we left. Drove into the worst thunderstorm I've ever been in in my life, and I'm from the Midwest.

Is everyone OK? How's it going? How're the roads?

[cynsun1]

I'm waiting for news too...my friends said that they lost a staff tent and the large food tent and that a small wooden structure was lifted off the ground and sent into the ticket booth tent...haven't heard of anything more...hope all are well. Anne and crew did such a fabulous job in spite of all the bad weather. It was definately the scariest festival for me because I hate thunder and lightning!

[rfordham811]

me and my two kids were in the kids performance tent. started out just waiting for things to pass, and once the winds picked up everyone was just trying to hold the thing down and keep it from blowing away or collapsing. we had to wait out the massive winds and rain, couldn't make a run for it. robbie from EFO played until the structure was in jeopardy, and then mostly folks were trying to hold down the tent and keep the kids assembled and reassured. after the storm abated, they came in a said another 'storm cell' might be on the way and that the one that passed might be on its way back. as we made a run for the car, it looked like the concession tent had taken a hit. unbelievable.

[mmorrill]

My thanks to all that helped out in the Merch tent to keep it from collapsing. My wife and I were shin deep in the water in the middle of the tent. People held the tent up with chairs, umbrellas, arms, whatever was available. 50 years old and been in a lot of storms - that one moves to the top. Made a run for it to the car and headed up 22 only to find out the "Road is gone". Headed home through Great Barrington back roads along with a long line of others.

[jojoluvzya]

Holy Hail! I've never seen hail like that before!! We tented on outskirts of the RV area at the bottom and managed to break most of our stuff down before the GOLF SIZE hail came down in anger! We booked towards the car and got hit with the beginning of the first strong wave of the storm. They hurt!

Puddles at least a foot deep were starting to build and we saw so many people stuck and wondering what to do. We luckily had gone out for the morning, hiking in taconic park, upon returning we realized we might not get out later due to the storm and parked our car on Rt.22, instead of driving in. Ended up carrying all of our stuff over the orange snow fences onto the street. Which was worth not getting stuck.

How did everyone get out? Did anyone get completely stuck and have to stay?

[betheddy]

I was in the food tent just before it went down. When it was clear that there was a danger that the tent would collapse people held on to the tent poles to try to keep it stable. I was frightened, but stepping up to hold a pole gave me something constructive to do that felt better. A few minutes later someone stronger than me came by and I yielded my spot to their strength. About one minute after that, someone official came up and told everyone that we all had to get out of the tent quickly. So in the height of the storm and hail we stepped out and tried to run for cover somewhere -where? I huddled near the big wood bar at one of the coffee food tents. Saw the dining tent then the staff tent go down. Hope everyone got out. I thought about the kids tent while I was waiting there. Called my husband by cell phone who was still sitting in the main audience area (where ya gonna go, really? - clearly my choice was wrong!) When the lightning calmed down, I met up with him, we trudged our stuff back up to the top pasture, battened things down and headed for home. There was a long backup for folks trying to get out due to highway 22 north being closed by the police. Don't know quite what the problem was there. Most people were great (always a couple of jerks.) Mostly a very good and helpful camaraderie and much patience and humor. But I must say, for about 20 minutes, I don't think I've ever been as scared as I was today. It was indeed and "event" as the sign on 22 proclaimed - an event I will remember for the rest of my life. I asked someone with some kind of official ID on if they knew if anyone was hurt - they said that as far as they knew, no one was. Truly a blessing if that's the case.

[betsys]

About Rt 22N: when we drove up it was starting to wash out. There were some small trees down (two small trees or big branches went down in front of our eyes!) and a couple places where dips in the road were starting to go underwater. The worst spot we saw was before Austerlitz about a mile south of the blueberry festival; there was one lane passable for regular cars on the shoulder but the water was rising.

(we thought about trying to call back to the festival but had no idea what number anyone might be answering at...)

[amp]

FWIW, Tracy Grammer tried to get us to take cover before things got bad, but her main stage audience refused. My mother and I waited out the initial wind, rain and hail (I’ve never seen hail before at a FRFF) in our “canopy”. We watched some canopies below us blow across the hill. When folks came out of the big tents below and back up to take down their canopies I asked one group if any official announcements had been made. They said another storm cell was on the way and we had all been asked to go somewhere safe, even if it was our stationary car, and that the electricity was out in the Merch Tent. They were unsure if it was lost or purposefully turned off. The Food and staff tents being down will not be news. North 22 being closed turned our 15 minute trip to the motel into a two hour tour of western Mass. before we found our way back to the other side of “Austerlitz” mountain. Rte 22 was open on our return trip around 5pm. Looked like it was mostly downed trees, one was still blocking a lane. While we saw a mud in the road, there was no pavement that appeared to be missing (when we got back to CT there were actual fist sized pavement chunks washed out of Rte 37 in New Fairfield). There were not many cars in the parking lots when we passed the festival site.

We’ll never forget the 20th anniversary of FRFF. I just wish I could have seen more of today’s acts.

[PaulC]

Wow sounds like a rough time. Hopefully no one got hurt. We left before the storm hit. We felt like we had been lucky with the two previous storms Well that is the second festival that we attended that was canceled because of the weather. Clearwater was canceled before Gandalf Murphy could play just like at FRFF .

['Becca]

That storm was INSANE! At first we were thinking it was great fun - putting up the umbrella, taking it down, dancing in the rain - and then it got dark, then darker, and you could tell that Tracy was very nervous - clearly boardering on scared - and the rest of us started to feel the same.... We waited until the sound guys shut Tracy and Jim down - Tracy said something along the lines of "Run! Now!" and we obeyed! We got pelted with those hail stones! We both have bruises and welts all over our bodies from running from the main stage to the car out in the lot by 22... oi! Saw that one of the big tents had blown down while we were on our way up the hill on 22.

Ended up getting back to 90 via route 71.. Stopped at a Friendly's to use their bathroom to get dry and somewhat clean... We weren't the only Hillsdale escapees there - several families came in during the time that we were there.

Glad to hear that so far no one knows of any serious injuries.

Certainly one for the memory books!

[PaulC]

Does anyone know how many of the big tents went down?

[Zervas1]

I was in the kids tent with my two boys (eight and ten)- joyfully singing along with Robbie Schaefer (a new song about WATER of all things!!!) when the rain, thunder, lightning, hail, and wind came. At first there was lots of laughing about the amazing storm, but as things raged harder and harder, and there was word that a tornado was near by (information that immediately brought crying and the words "this is the most scared I have ever been in my life," from my youngest son) it became clear this was more than the typical Falcon Ridge summer thunderstorm. Thanks to all the volunteers who heroically held down the tent, risking life and limb holding onto the metal poles amidst many advising against it. Kids were huddled in the arms of adults, many cried, and all the musicians (Guy Mendilow's band included) huddled onto the 20X20 stage trying to save their instruments and other pieces of equipment from the ankle deep water. After the rain subsided and and everyone let out a huge cheer of relief, we were warned of another system on the way. My kids and I rain faster than humanely possible up the hill, leaving our metal chairs behind, and after an hour and a half waiting in traffic trying to get off the hill, finally made it to the main road. In the car my kids remarked that it was the most "exciting" part of the weekend, but certainly not the best.

[john r]

at the GFP we managed to get our big canopy down before the storm, but a small popup canopy that was sheltering a few of us took off into the wind. we were on the windy side of the trees on the 10 acre site. i ran to my tent and though it was destroyed - it was nearly flat, but it turned out it was intact, rooted, and flattened by the wind. i managed to get inside just before the hail struct, and was leaning at a 30 degree angled toward the side of the tent with my arms outstretch and palms aginst the tent side to keep it upright. one gust actually knocked me over backwards onto my air matress. but the tent did stay dry and intact. if you need a testimonial to Eureka, i am your man.

[Rakenjake]

Does anyone know if anyone was hurt? There are a couple of video's on youtube...scary.

[topcat]

My wife and I were trying to hustle from the main stage to the our campsite at the far end of the low flat field. The hail started at marble size but quickly grew to quarter size and were were getting hit hard in the back, like being punched. I was getting concerned we could get hit in the head. This was dangerous. We were on the road going through the handicapped camping area. The handicapped access outhouse door had blown open and looked like it would rip off. We ran into the outhouse and pulled the door shut. "Any harbor in the storm". That little plastic building protected us. I opened the door a few times to see if anyone else needed to come in. We only saw one couple and they kept going even though I called for them to come inside. I think we were in there about 20 minutes. The sound was intense with the hail, rain and wind pummeling our little plastic refuge. We both have sore backs today, but we're OK.