UPDATED: Recap: 2009 Wildflower Festival in Richardson

by Travis Bush

RICHARDSON — We had never been to the Wildflower Festival in Richardson, but I’m quite glad it found us. As vendors at the event, my friend Herb and I have a unique perspective. We didn’t get to see all of the shows, but we were fortunate enough to be almost in the middle. I’ll start with Friday and we can roll from there.

With the help of my much more beautiful half, Liz, we set up on Friday in the heat and in retrospect I blame some alien or deity for not giving us Saturday’s much cooler weather for the tedious task of getting ready. There were a few tense moments when I accidentally gonked the old lady with a 36x26 abstract, but one assures you it wasn’t on purpose. From the vendor’s perspective, Friday is the tense day, irritable, hot and grumpy. It would be nice to hire small foreign children to do this, but that would require paying additional fees, or at least food every once in a while. At least everyone was smiling and the event staff were very helpful, not to mention the fact our booth got to be right next to an artist who has been around the world. Cool as he was, he looked a bit withered as well. Apparently the harsh mistress Art does not take a break, even when the humidity and heat belongs in the heart of darkness.

Kool and the Gang got down on it! I didn’t get to listen to their whole set, but it was packed and it was quite fun to see people singing along. That was one thing that I noticed pretty much all day. Sitting at my booth you would hear people mouthing the words to the songs being played on stage. Even if you couldn’t hear them, you know that tune was roiling about in their noggin.

One of my complaints was the music they played in between times. I fully understand that you want to represent the bands who are playing, but do you have to push "Jungle Boogie" every 15 minutes? And when those bands are done? Can we play something else now? For the love of kettle corn!...

Yes, kettle corn. The vendors actually threw away the first batch and it was just sitting there by the tree, minding its own business in the trash bag. I dug some out and didn’t even get the swine flu, imagine that! Popped corn yumminess was among one of the many items that were to be had for sustenance. Liz tells me the turkey legs were very good, but one is always skeptical, especially when it comes to the turkey leg fiends. It might have been Spam on a stick, but if it tasted the same way a smoked turkey leg does, well hell, son... In passing, I saw the crowd munching delightfully on the other standard festival foods. Funnel cakes, swirly flat potato fries, gyro, and the ubiquitous corny dogs all made appearances. One thing that I did like and would probably be of interest to the soft serve freaks out there, was the yogurt stand with the myriad of choices for mass sprinkly mass murdering of a dessert item.

Saturday. One is not sure whether the swine flu or the rain will be the demise of outdoor vendors, but it certainly makes it more challenging. Some of the vendors had leaking problems, and some had large puddles of water that collected in the top of their tents, especially the lovely folks who were across from me. Incidentally, they had to pay almost double, simply because they were a Richardson business, instead of just some dirty hippies trying to make a buck. That is something to fix for next year and an item for another article.

It gets better though. The rain abated about 6 p.m. and we almost saw the sun come out. I was feeling a bit sorry for the bands earlier in the day, because there was hardly anyone there to listen, but I will say that The Novas, Monkeyshyne, and The Fuss were playing like they had a full crowd. If you moved one or two blocks from our booth in either direction you could hear them on the respective stages. I’m not sure if it is a rock star’s dream to die in a huge electrical explosion, or Frankenstein event, but today they lucked out. Or not.

Badfish! I love Sublime and have always wished I could see them in concert. It isn’t that these guys recreate that experience to a tee, but they come pretty close. The singer got the crowd going with favorites like “What I Got,” “Doin’ Time,” “Caress Me Down,” “Date Rape,” and one or two others I can’t remember for some reason. Ahem! Cough!

UPDATE: It is only appropriate that I thank the festival organizers and the City of Richardson. Norma Friis and company did a bang up job all around. There were a few small things that I would improve upon, such as a review of all the paperwork involved, but mostly for small wording problems and slight miscommunications. All the event staff I came into contact with were more than accommodating. These small things probably go unnoticed by most festival goers, but when one is trying to make money, it can mean all the difference between having a great weekend and a regrettable one. Get on with it!

"Are you doing this yet?" I cannot tell you how many times I had to listen to that along with the moronic hoots when someone signed up for Green Mountain Energy. I'm all for clean efficient energy, but just not directly across from my booth. I guess if I had paid an obnoxious amount of money I could have set my booth up inside the Eisemann, and as the weekend progressed, I really wished they had followed that lead. There were other companies out there representing, like the naughty Metro PCS girls that were walking around in police uniforms and advertising phone service, but again their intrusion was a welcome one versus having Green Mountain employees standing in the middle of our walkway bothering people and chasing some prospective customers away. Many folks simply sped up in an effort to get away from being bothered. Don't know about you, but when I go to a festival, I'm not going to deal with my electric bill, or even think about it for that matter. One can only hope that the festival organizers will rethink where they put these obnoxious clods next time.

Sunday was a busy day for us as a late rush Saturday night left the booth looking like we had been set upon by art thieves. Herb and I rushed to get some new work done and up on the walls before the crowds started in. Paint was flying and let's just say that concrete is a bit more colorful today. With one early custom order the work began and went on right until the bitter end. I'm fairly sure you can still smell the lacquer on this one, which took up most of my day and didn't get finished until right at 8 p.m.

"I get get by with a little help from my friends" couldn't have rang any more true this weekend. My good friend Dwayne took pictures for me all day as I was unable to escape the booth very often. He snapped the bands playing all day long, which thanks to our great location, I could hear fairly well for the most part. Both stages stayed packed all day and the applause bounced off the buildings continuously. All the tribute bands were fun to, but I think my favorites were Swan Song, Led Zeppelin cover band, Eight Arms To Hold You that did the Beatles, and Spector's Gun Collection, who did The Allman Brothers. I didn't get to see the Wailers play, but I understand they played all of the songs on the Exodus album, and everyone who saw them described the performance as amazing.

The kids were having a great time at the fest. There was an arts and crafts section for them, a small petting zoo, games, and most importantly, a chance to play in the water! Speaking of kids, I had the chance to hear a rather moving exchange between father and son. The Army had a booth out there and one of the officers helping with the booth was there in full dress uniform. He had his family with him and stopped by our booth to look at my American flag painting which had army men in place of the stars. Almost all of them were missing an arm or leg or both. I've done a couple of these pieces and have generally received positive feedback, but one never knows how people will take the underlying statement, especially our men and women of the armed forces. He gave it a good look and I said nothing. I thought it best that I not engage him while he eyed it, but after several minutes he said that he liked it a lot and it reminded him of his time in Afghanistan. I wasn't aware that the guys over there like to play with army men, but I guess you can't take the boy out of the soldier, regardless of where they are. His son and wife came up behind him and the young son looked confused as he stared at the painting. "Why are they missing legs?", he asked his dad. His father responded that it was just like what happened to him when his vehicle was the victim of an IED and he had lost hearing in his ear. It must be hard for children to understand the absolute horror that our soldiers face and I was glad the man was honest with his son. I was also glad the officer understood what I was trying to say and respected my right to say it.

In any case the water features looked awfully inviting and many kids took full advantage. I also had the distinct pleasure of selling one our pieces to an eight year old, complements of her older brother, who couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen himself. Definitely put a smile on my face. It is safe to say we will be returning next year. The people were friendly, the facility is well suited for big events and we made a lot of business contacts, not to mention some new friends. Above all, the atmosphere was good and if there is anything we need, it is some good vibes to carry us into the heat of another Texas summer.

This story was submitted by a member of the Pegasus News community.