April 12, 2014

1^St Annual Spring Fling

Little Manatee River State Park

Wimauma, FL

We were scheduled to have a brief meeting at 8AM to go over the parking lot details with some volunteers who were only coming in to help for the day.  BUT at 7:45 we were informed that trailers were already headed for the parking lot.  WHAT!  The gates were supposed to be open at 7AM for vendors only and for the people who were going to be running in the race.

 

 We jumped into the park truck and headed over to the parking lot but there was no one there.  It turned out that the trailers that came into the park early were vendors and a horse trailer that was going to be offering horseback rides.  Those trailers were being directed to park nearer to the event site and didn’t impact us.

SO Monte and I along with two other volunteers stood around waiting at the parking lot for over an hour for the first car to arrive. 

 But soon we were directing a steady stream of cars and before we knew it we were relieved for lunch.  

We were given coupons for a lunch that included a choice of meals and a drink being served by Friends of Little Manatee River State Park.

Luckily we found an empty picnic bench in the shade to eat and enjoy one of the many musical performers in attendance.

After lunch Monte and I walked around stopping at each vendor.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our signs look pretty good-if I do say so myself!

 This little guy was so cute--that is a stuffed mouse he had clenched in his mouth.

Back at the parking lot we mainly supervised while some of the cadets from the local USAE (United State Army Explorers) parked cars.  The USAE is a national, not for profit youth military career exploration program for male and female youth between the ages of 13 – 20.     

The cadets were very well behaved and eager to help park cars.

Leaving Monte behind to supervise I caught the tram back to the event site to take additional pictures.

 After what seemed like a blink of the eye, the event was over and it was time for all the volunteers to pitch in to take down tents and tables.  

 

 

 The event was well attended and Monte and I are proud of the efforts we made that contributed to the success of the 1^st Annual Spring Fling.