So yesterday afternoon I called the Port Macquarie Campground to book a non-powered site for two nights, and the front desk guy says, sorry mate there is a big music festival here and there are no spots available. Thinking he was referring to the band directors retreat I was coming up for, I said yeah, and thats what Im coming for! So he books me in and I role in late last night and settle into a sweet spot under a massive pine tree and sleep the night away. As Im walking out of the campground to attend my first Band Directors discussion...I notice signs everywhere saying Festival of the Sun and heaps of scantly clad people (all under the age of 25 and over the age of 17) flooding into the campground. The morning daylight is now exposing lots and lots of fencing, beer tents, and it looks like some sort of big Festival thing is going to be taking place in the far corner of the campground as there are sings everywhere saying Festival of the Sun. Pity theres no sun today. I think to myself as I head off to registration. Good thing I got my spot before all these other people moved in. After a solid 7 hours of talking music, song structure, and swing, I head back to the campground and stop in at the front desk to officially check in and am told you cant be here, we are all booked out. To which I say but I am here, for the band directors retreat to which he says but you cant be here because this is reserved for Festival of the Sun to which I say but I already am here, Im in site 134, can I stay? To which Im told no and then I say can I get my van out? And he says no and I say, but youre all booked out, and I need my van and a place to sleep the night and then it got kind of confusing, and the only thing made completely clear to me was that I COULD NOT STAY ANYWHERE IN, ON, OR NEAR THIS CAMPGROUND. So I resolve to try and get to my van and see that everything is now blocked off with fences and security guards. Lots of security guards. So I told my story to the first guard, and we had a similar conversation to the desk guy. So she sent me to another guard, and we had a similar conversation to the desk guy and they sent me to another...and this repeated itself many times. And each time I got closer to my impacted vehicle..plete with my name badge and trumpet bag in hand...and being fully clothed and not looking a day under 47...and young 20 year old girls looking at me with the sweetest you-remind-me-of-my-father looks on their faces and smart-ass 20 year old shirtless dudes who were calling me by the name-target on my cotton polyester blend button front old-man shirt...my story became quite obvious to all: This old guy doesnt belong here and he must go. But, all traffic (mostly beer toting teens) was incoming...and I needed to be out going. And putting aside the fact that I didnt actually have a PLACE to go once I got out...a nice group of security staff helped me focus on the immediate need of negotiating my way out of what now had become a modern day Woodstock-like-sea-of-Festival of The Sun-participants. Luckily one security guard took pity on me (I must have reminded him of his dad or something) and he relocated me to a secret spot in the far distant corner of the campground for the night. Starting at 10pm Im going to start making complaints if theres any noise! Ive got an early morning jazz discussion tomorrow! Oh...did a quick Fest of the Sun trumpet cam before my eviction from all the cool party peeps.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 07:14:08 +0000