Gathering at Macktown

Unfortunately this was not a good year for The Gather at Macktown, Rockton, IL. It had nothing to do with the way the event was run. It was a combination of things that really lead to this event having an off year. It started Friday during school day. First it rained off an on. Which I don't care how much people complain about it at camp meetings, the booshway and committee can not control the weather. It's just not possible. The rain wasn't the only weather related issue, some storms moved in that brought with them high winds. It was the wind that really caused a problem. Where the storms passed, the win stayed and blew all Friday evening and through the night.

Friday night as other participants arrived, the family and I arrived on Thursday, they started bringing horror stories about the weather that was going to come. This is were the real down fall for this event started. Rumors of the winds getting worse, the temperatures dropping, rain and snow started spreading like wildfire across the camp. And as much as I hate to admit it. We used the weather service on our cell phones and what we were receiving did not match the panic spreading rumors that were going around. No matter what I said to people who were spreading the rumors, they shrugged it off as "That's what I heard."

Saturday morning almost half of the camp started tearing down tents and packing out. Some of them were people that had just set up the night before in the pouring rain. I couldn't believe it. The below picture is part of the camp that had been full of tents the night before, but is now empty.

That is a whole aisle of tents gone. The night before the canvas went from where I was standing all the way down on both sides. Then Saturday night even more people left. They stated again it was going to get worse, more wind and snow. Come Sunday morning this was the majority of the camp.

There was more to the camp, but the majority of it was in this section. It was really disheartening as a participant to see this happen to this event. To make matters worse, it really was a beautiful weekend. The wind started dying down around 6:00PM Saturday and was pretty much gone by 8:00PM. The temperatures all day were nice and warm and Sunday was beautiful. Sunny, no rain, little wind and warm. It really was beautiful. These people all left for nothing. Now I can understand the ones that left because their canvas got ripped or a pole broke. But the ones that left because of bad weather... Those I don't understand. If you are going to have a hobby like this, you need to be prepared for harsh weather. If you can't handle it, maybe it's time to find a new hobby. Am I being harsh, maybe... but by all of them leaving, they really ruined a pretty good event.

Those of us that did stick it out tried to help out in what ways we could. Unfortunately the wind would not let me run the still. Building a fire underneath it would have just been a fire hazard, so I went to my back up demonstration of explaining the Scottish influence in the settling and exploring of America. All I need for that is me and my overly thick Scottish brogue. A lot of people that don't normally participate in the battle pulled together on Sunday to put together a pretty nice skirmish. It ended with a guy getting scalped.

There was also a lot more camaraderie amongst those that stayed. Of course there ended up with half the camp around our fire Saturday night as Sengo and some of the others sang sons and traded stories.

Besides the weather and the frustration at those that left, which at the camp meeting I recommended they not invite those back that left with out a good excuse, it was a good time. We had fun. We were able to to have a good time and overall it brought a lot of us closer together. If you are looking for an event and aren't scared of a little bad weather, I'd seriously recommend giving this one a try.