Wanted: Full Time Lemon Squeezers

Big Red at RIR

When I arrived at Richmond Raceway on Thursday afternoon for the East Coast Sawmill and Logging Expo, I went into shock and had to change all of my plans for the weekend on the fly.  The entire RIR compound was filled with every kind of heavy equipment imaginable plus all of the logging and sawmill equipment.  Easily, there were over 1,000 vendors.  And, all of them had to eat and drink, not counting any show goers.

My plan for the weekend was to have Tank and I work Friday–usually a slow day at the shows.  Peggy was tied up with Allison’s graduation from VCU’s School of the Arts and Laura was teaching school.  Both would be available on Saturday, traditionally the busy day of a weekend show.

Logging Show

When I saw all of those vendors I knew Tank and I would be in trouble with just the two of us working.  So, I placed an emergency call to Chuck and Ryan and had them head to Richmond.  Thankfully, they were available and arrived about 11 am Friday.

We got busy about 30 minutes before the start of the Expo and stayed slammed all day.  After arriving, Ryan basically did nothing but squeeze lemons.  Tank cooked, I worked the register and filled orders and Chuck helped Tank, hauled water, helped me pouring lemonade and whatever else needed to be done.  We got thru the day with fairly decent service. And, it was huge, one of the best days I’ve had at an RIR show.

Right Across from Big Red

We used 56 lbs of sugar on Friday alone.

Saturday, the weatherman didn’t cooperate as well as on Friday.  It was much cooler and threatened   rain all day.  Although we only saw a sprinkle or two, our sales were down a little from the day before.  But, together, it was a great weekend.  Laura spent all day squeezing lemons, Peggy poured lemonade.  By the end of the day, I think they both felt like a lemon.

We put out something like 100 gal. of fresh squeezed lemonade for the two days.

Can I Have One for the Farm?

In addition, we sold out of burgers both days, sold out of corndogs, fries and cokes on Saturday, had five Ribeye Steaks left and 4 hot dogs.  That’s a lot of food too.  Funnel cakes were a little weak on Friday but strong on Saturday.

After tear down, Peggy and I drove back to the farm and hit one awful storm.  Thankfully, that didn’t happen during the show.

I’m at the farm for a total of about 15 hours, then head to Harrisonburg.  Tomorrow, I start another long home stand of the Potomac Nationals including the 3 day Memorial Day Weekend.  If the weather is nice, how many lemons will I need for the week?