By Georgia Osten
Yep, that’s what we had, a little of both. All in all, it was a fantastic Festival and everyone had a great time. That is, everyone but all the volunteers who worked so hard to try to make everyone comfortable. Thank you to all our volunteers! I’ve just got to say, we have the most wonderful Vendors around. I, personally, have known so many of our vendors for what? Going on 11 years now? Each year, we get new vendors and I forget they’re not seasoned like our others. I’m a fanatic emailer, I will email you til you shout “Uncle,” and I most likely will not quit! This year, with so many new vendors, I was negligent to keep the “new ones” informed of: when to show up, packets would be provided, where’s their space, do they already have a number space? Stuff like that. I feel a little like I let ya’ll down, I guess every festival is different, and that means there will be MORE Rules & Instructions. I apologize, let’s go on!

I can’t say enough about what great people they are. I know they must go through shows where it’s rain or shine, but they come out shining through it all. Did that sound corny? I don’t care!

Now, let me go back a few years to when I ran the beer booth …

Last year, I approached Lydia (Lighthouse Krewe), who I asked if she thought Gladys (Lighthouse Krewe) might be interested in running the beer booth. She encouraged me to go ahead and ask her, “all she has to say is NO!”

Anyway, long story short, Gladys accepted and with very little micro-managing from me, she knocked it outta the park. I mean TABC and all! Which, by the way, I renewed mine this year on a Sunday after returning from an out of town wedding the weekend before the Festival. This, thinking I might need to bust in to contribute …

So, that was last year. This year, my contribution, I washed all the bar wipes and put them back in the tub. My daughter, Leigh, and I went over to the beer booth early on Friday, before Gladys could be there, to hang the clothesline and clothespin the Koozies to it. Clothespin! Does anybody remember what those are?? If you’re not aware, the Krewe gets a donation for every Koozie. Sometimes the donation could be a $20 bill, we’ve even seen a $50 bill. This is a charity event, and the $$ flow. It’s a great fund raiser for the Krewe and we love that they’ve taken over.

Other than washing the bar wipes, I didn’t do another gosh darn thing but try to collect the donations at the end of the evening to take them to my sis-in-law, Annie, in the Finance Trailer to count it up. I didn’t serve one beer this year, and I missed collecting the $$ on Saturday night because of the downpour. The Krewe will receive a check for their donations and participation. Thank you Gladys and Krewe!

I know this is long, but one more thing about a tiny section of the Crab Festival. NOT SO TINY! The Silent Auction was practically, totally contributed to by our Vendors! Yes, here I go again about our Vendors. We raised a whopping total this year, far exceeding any other year! All vendors donated a silent auction item from their hearts. We are truly blessed by this wonderful group of people who love the event and want to come back year after year.

Only my immediate family knows this about me, I stretch it out to my “Festival Friends” One and All – My Cup Runneth Over!