Wooo, what an ending!

[LIConcertNotes]

As soon as the heavy rain started during Tracy's set I headed to the food concession tent. I was standing close to the entrance when the hail and wind began to lift the wooden poles supporting the perimeter of the tent. A man in a kilt grabbed one of the poles and was trying to hold it in place. I grabbed another wooden pole and did the same. A few other men along the perimeter grabbed other poles, but after a few minutes it was clear we could not keep the tent from collapsing.

One of the kitchen staff began screaming for everyone to get out of the tent. Everyone rushed out and I headed for the concession stand with the wood bar. A couple of people were crouched under the wood structure using it as shelter from the wind. The concession tent covering held up pretty well, but offered little protection from the sideways wind and rain.

When the wind and rain began to abate, I headed back to the main stage, collected my chair and tarp (amazingly, exactly where I left them), and headed for the parking lot. Lots of cars were having trouble with the mud, and after 20 minutes of shifting back and forth between reverse and low, I made it to the road. Roads heading south were surprisingly clear and I was able to make it to Bethel Woods (site of 1969 Woodstock festival) to meet my (grown, non-folkie) kids for another OUTDOOR concert that night. By that time the storm had passed and the evening was perfect for an outdoor concert.

It sounds (from previous posts) like no one was injured at Dodd's Farm. I hope Anne Saunders confirms this when she finally has time to read and reply to these posts.

This was certainly a memorable 20th Anniversary for the festival we all love.

7th consecutive year for me.

Gary

[joepaul]

That was insane!!!!
....lucky nobody was hurt..... or you might say the energy was in our favor..any idea how strong the winds got??

[joepaul]

CRAZiness!! Any idea what the sustained winds were??? Our 10x14 Eureka tent, fully staked, was launched 200 yards into the trees in the 10 acre camping area. ...6 of us were under canopy, enjoying the standard Falcon Ridge Rain, when we simulataneously ran for cover when it became obivious this was not your average storm. We waited it out in car and watched our tent fly by..... luckily nobody was hurt.
We drove home to Western Mass...trees were down along the entire route with a pole down in our yard and power lines. We had no power until the next morning. .....took some video which i need to upload.....memorable!!

[john r]

my 9x9 Eureka made it through the storm dry and OK up on the 10 acre site by the treeline. we did lose a 10x10 instant up canopy that flew into the trees. after that i ran to my tent which looked like it had been destroyed - it was absolutely flat. but it was still ok and between gusts i got in and leaned towqrd the wall at a 30 degree angle with arms outstretched and plams agaonst the wallto hold it up. one gust was so strong that it actually threw me backward onto my air mattress. but we got through ok and intact.

[tomenbekka]

Count us in as folks who'd love to buy an "I survived" shirt. I know that sometime early on (before my first year in 99) there was a very wet festival. I remember seeing folks with a shirt where the bird was holding up an umbrella. I think we definitely qualify for that design.

I was down watching Tracy Grammer when it all started. At first I thought I'd wait it out, since I was already drenched, but the hail put the kibosh on that. Strangely enough, it was my tiny little shade brella that held up beautifully, protecting me from the hail and never once going inside out. I ran to our campsite, where the shade tent had become a sculpture. Many many thanks to the fabulous couple who lent me shelter at their pop-up while I rescued our belongings, and helped Tom and I cart everything down to the car, as well as to the family who lent us the wagon. I am always heartened by the spirit of community I find at Falcon Ridge.

We left right after the official announcement that the festival closed.

Also thanks to all the volunteers and staff for doing a great job under very trying circumstances! The mass exodus went as smoothly as it possibly could have, and much faster than I ever would have imagined.

Bekka

[Bobka]

People were helping to hold the outer tent poles and I am sure it helped. We heard a bang, which was one of the guy lines snapping. Its tent peg and an adjacent tent peg had been pulled out, so I attached the lines to the nearest pegs with some help from a tall guy who stepped up to help.

A brave young woman tried to help, too, but she scared me by leaning over the tent peg that had two spring lines on it. The tension on that peg was high, but she was ready to tamp down the mud around the peg, possibly loosening it, while her chest was directly over the peg! She also adjusted the tent pole loosening the lines around it, setting up a vibration in the lines. I admired her for going out into the storm to help, and rolling up her sleeves to actually do something, but she was not familiar with tents and I admit I was really conflicted about her good intentions and the bad results.

I have to compliment everyone in the tent. There was much helpful cooperation and singing and good spirit in the face of rain and lightning.

[cpsych99]

I was in the medical tent through the whole storm. We took in all the handicapped, young families and whoever could make it to the tent. The Medical tent would have been the first to know about any injuries from the storm, and there were none. We saw the damage when we emerged, and greatly relieved by the report that all involved were not physically harmed. The flash flooding, lightening, hail and wind damage was unbelievable. Rt. 22 was closed because of trees being down, and that must have also taken down the electric lines to FRFF (although I thought someone say that it was turned off as a precaution). I give Bubb, Ann, Barb and Arnie (head of medical tent) a lot of credit in keeping everyone as safe as they could.

I heard that after the storm Eileen Ivers was disappointed that her set was canceled (as were we all!), and played an acoustic concert in an area off the workshop stage. I would have loved to hear her play! The weather was rather nice as the evening grew closer, and my camping group stayed till the morning, as planned. We lost a large structure, but everything else was in good shape.

[betheddy]

Here's a review from the Berkshire Eagle
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_100315 ... st_emailed

[johnraa]

We were at the main stage when Tracey left. I cant run so three of us sat out the storm under a plastic tarp in our lawn chairs. We saw everyone else who sought "safe" shelter running all over the place after "safe" shelter proved to be less than safe. We got back to our campsite in 15 acres and found our dining shelter torn up but the rest of the camp intact. We got out later in the afternoon and back to the Hartford area without incident.

[debcav]

As the crew chief for the Activities 4 Kids tent, I want to thank everyone who stepped up and helped us hold the tent together, calm the frightened families, and especially to those who came back to the tent after the storm to help with the clean-up. I had volunteers from other crews as well as paying festival-goers helping us salvage what we could, clean-up and pack up our site. Falcon Ridge always shows us that it really is possible to live in a loving and cooperative society. As a mom, I also want to thank those who helped my grandchildren (ages 14 and 4 1/2) and their friend (also 14) who were separated from us during the storm. They ended up on their own in the chaos of the volunteer food tent collapsing while my son and others tried to hold the tent together long enough for everyone to get out safely. They ended up in a football type huddle singing songs and learning about hail. Then the two girls were taken in to someone's van while my grandson found us to let us know where they all were.

[kc1ih]

I was at the Tracy/Jim performance when they said they would take a break, and at that time I turned my chair on it’s side and ran to the merchandise tent. I stayed there, with the water getting deeper and deeper, until we were told that we should go to our cars but not try to drive anywhere. I did just that, but was disappointed that many people did try to leave, many of them having problems getting stuck in the mud.

I was disappointed with the people who tried to drive away, realizing there was a reason we were told to stay put. A car getting stuck in the wrong place could block an emergency vehicle from entering or leaving. Fortunately it wasn’t needed, but had the ambulance needed to get get someone to the hospital quickly, a stuck car blocking it’s way could have spelled disaster. We need to be more patient in an emergency situation, and realize that we are given instructions for a reason.

Anyway, I waited in my car for a while, and then went back to retrieve my chair, which to my surprise was still where I left it. I finally left the grounds when someone told me that the rest of the festival and been officially canceled.

I made my way to the Mass pike by going thru Great Barrington and the like, and then the traffic was so bad that it took over three hours to get from Lee to Worcester, which normally would take less than half that time. When I finally got home around 9 PM I found out there had been a major tornado here in New Hampshire, though substantially north of me.

One suggestion I have for dealing with if anything like this ever happens again is to have a way to keep the 97.5 radio signal on the air (emergency power), so that it can be used to keep the people waiting in their cars informed of the situation.

[jojoluvzya]

One suggestion I have for dealing with if anything like this ever happens again is to have a way to keep the 97.5 radio signal on the air (emergency power), so that it can be used to keep the people waiting in their cars informed of the situation

Yes, although the hail stopped within a 1/2 hour, we were anxiously flipping through radio stations for anything that would tell us what was going on. If the storm laster longer, we would have been more nervous. If possible, 97.5 should be used to transmit emergency situation updates.

[Susan]

If power was cut then the FM transmitter would have been useless. If power was out for ANY reason, the FM transmitter would have been useless. And...who's going to standon the main stage [or at the soundbooth in the middle of the audience area of the main stage] and transmit information??

[Hillary]

Hmm... with a generator and a bare-bones broadcasting setup in a central 'safe place' (maybe a shed near the medical tent?), you should be able to stay on the air through pretty much anything, shouldn't you?

[Susan]

Yes, i suppose you should.

Got a generator?
;-)