Update!
We are officially "In the window" as we say. That means the park is now opening to various stages of logistics.
We were supposed to drop our PODS storage unit onsite this afternoon but predictably the ONE truck the company had broke down. They'll drop first thing in the morning. We'll also drop our Southern Pride SP700 smoker at the same time.
Following that, we've privately contracted our own scaffold crew due to risk of being delayed due to other crews doing multiple booths. They will start construction tomorrow morning and we're cautiously optimistic they will stay late to finish up. We've bribed them with an extra $300 to do so.
Saturday Morning we have another crew that will come in and lay carpet (3000sq ft) and then do the heavy lifting of unpacking the bar and kitchen components from the POD and putting them in place. Then, around 10am, when that's done, the team will crack a beer and get to hanging banners, hanging string lights, setting up bar and kitchen, etc. At some point sunday, the rental company will have another crew come onsite to install the 30x40 tent on our top deck and secure it to the scaffold. They'll also drop off our rental order of 120 chairs, a couple dozen tables, etc.
It's a long day but it's a LOT of fun... big cooler of beer, great group of guys and ladies, and building something we've worked to prepare for over the last half year.
We usually wrap up around dinner time, then go for Mexican. This year a few guys are coming back to my house to finalize video production components.
Sunday a bunch of us will go back down and hopefully tie up most loose ends. More beer, more work.
Tuesday we have a huge box truck with about a quarter million bucks in AV gear coming onsite to Install our Lighting, audio, and video system. Video consists of 3x 80" TVs inside, plus a 9ft video wall on the facade of the booth for showing sponsor videos, past videos of our content, and of course Live TV... namely the Grizzlies vs Warriors games that we are doing watch parties for.
Wednesday is the first day of the festival. In the morning we have one trailer coming in with 260 cases of Yeungling beer to be stocked. Another will include a thousand plus pounds of Ribs and Shoudler from Hormel, our pork sponsor. Plus 20lbs of A5 Japanese Wagyu... 150lbs of Prime Brisket... and about 50lbs each of wings and thighs. THEN around 5pm the park will open to the public and we'll have a huge crawfish boil and taco bar (as mentioned), plus have a watch party for the Grizzlies/Warriors game 5.
The video wall faces out to the main lawn, so we fully expect large crows to gather during the games. We've also made some custom rally towels (from the same vendor the grizzlies use), and have lined up rapper
Al Kapone of "Whoop That Trick" fame.. as it's become the Grizzlies unofficial theme song. He will perform live in our booth at halftime of Game 6 Friday. We've also got about a quarter of the Grizzlies Cheerleaders coming down in Uniform for the festivities. It's going to be pretty insane.
#### is getting real. I can't tell if we're ready or not because we're out of practice. I feel like I'm missing so much and I'm sure I am... but overall I think we're in good shape.
I forgot how much I missed this....
Friendly reminder to follow @usualsaucepects on instagram and facebook for the most current info/pics/videos during the festival. I'll try to update here but I'm not sure how much time I'll have.