I signed up for the two hour slot from 9 to 11 am at my friendly Saucon Valley Farmers’ Market, playing for the vendors and a few brave shoppers. The rain was pulling out and the forecast was for chilly temps and occasionally gusty winds. Yup.
During warmer days.
I set up among the vendors and decided against a pop-up tent since it was liable to get blown away. Except for a brief moment of sunshine, it was windy and cold but I decided I would ride it out. As it turned out, the two hours went fairly quickly, but I was losing my grip on the pick, and, when I moved to finger picks, they were constantly sliding off. I’d strum a verse, resituate the pick, strum a couple more times, adjust again. It seemed to be the dryness more than loss of feeling. It was two hours of this. Surprisingly, my left hand (chords) didn’t suffer at all.
The wind knocked over the large farm stand up wind from me, breaking their pop-up tents and shutting down their business for an hour. They took it on the chin. All I had to do was play music. There were few folks today and no kids so I was there for the vendors. They appreciated my efforts and I picked up some sweet peppers and a bag of fine mushrooms from a couple of them.
This was the last farmers’ market of the year for me and I truly enjoyed playing for the families, the vendors and for myself. I was able to hone my songs, figure out where I needed improvement, counted up my mistakes and ‘played’ music. A few tips and CD sales but lots of smiles, and that’s fine with me.