Today, my aunt gave me and Raegan tickets to a concert tomorrow, held by a local country radio station. This is the 17th year they've held the "Birthday Bash". It's a large outdoor concert that is free to attend- if you can score tickets. When it first started, it was a 1 day event, but it has grown into 2 full days of outdoor concerts.
It's held about 45 minutes from where I live now, and Raegan and I both enjoy country music, so we were excited. On top of the tickets, we also were given VIP passes to sit in a nice shaded area right in front of the grand stand, and mingle with the performers (well, that is, possibly mingle with..).
Tonight, my aunt called- the venue is in a bad flood plane (in fact, back in April we drove past it, and it was so far under water from the Spring thaw, that the road signs in the parking lot were submerged up to the start of the signs- which are about 5 feet in the air). Last night, bad storms hit the area, and caused flooding.
The concert went on as planned today, but by this evening, the show was shut down, and boats had to come in to rescue people. Around 500 cars are stranded in the water, and they are going vehicle to vehicle to make sure no one is stranded inside any of them. At peak attendance, there were 60,000 people there.
Some people reported water waist deep on adults in some places. Gravel was brought in to try and construct a road to get the stranded vehicles out. If that doesn't work, the National Guard is set to come in and construct temporary bridges out of the waters.
Needless to say, the concert for tomorrow was canceled. Rae is bummed, this would have been her first concert, and she was VERY excited over Dierks Bentley. I'm also suddenly very glad I'm not there today. My little car would be under water, and DEAD. Ugh.
Here's a link to the news article about it:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=110578&catid=14
And here's a link to the information about the concert:
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Comments: 34
That so sucks
Yeah, but at least now I don't feel bad leaving Nick here with the younger two kids on Father's Day.
Wow, glad you weren;t there today, but wasn;t the water steadily rising? Why would people leave their cars there when they know the water is rising?
From the sounds of it, it must have happened fairly fast, because there are photos up on the radio station website from just a few hours ago, with no water anywhere. I haven't heard a cause yet as to WHY it would rise so fast, though, when the storm was last night.
from what I heard (I follow a local newsies twitter and also have a few friends who were there earlier) the National weather service said it wouldn't be flooding there until MONDAY afternoon, but then some town north of there was flooding too badly so they opened their dam up so the water came downriver faster than expected.
That's what I was just reading in a comment to the news article- a dam north of them opened, and there was no siren warning.
That's too bad for both of you :(
Yeah it is really kinda SCARY what is going on there. I heard the red cross set up a shelter there for those who were stranded in the area.
I just wonder what happened to the people who were camping and had tents set up and stuff.... we did that one year - and the tent area wasn't far from the parking lot so it would be underwater as well. I heard they just started doing camping again after a few years of not doing it.
I wouldn't go when they didn't do the camping... I can't handle all the traffic.... just don't have the patience for that.
Sorry you and Reagan are missing it but at least you are home safe and sound and aren't stranded there.
Yeah, there are a LOT of people stranded who have no way of getting home, or no one to call. :( I can't imagine what it would be like for the people who had young kids there, trying to carry them in deep water like that.
I looked at the camping- $220 for both nights (Fri & Sat)- no 1 night option. That's just CRAZY! And parking is $15, and you HAVE to park at the fair grounds. When we used to go, we'd find someone charging $5 per car to use their yard, and park away from the craziness.
Now, when you park, each person is given a voucher to get into the concert. Without it, you pay $10/person to get in. People who have a drivers license and live in Ionia are exempt.
$220!!!!!! WOW!!! THAT'S just CRAZY!!!
When we camped (2004) it was like $40 TOTAL for BOTH nights. Then they didn't have camping again until this year.
I think $15 is crazy too.
One year (I think it was 2005) we went to a free country concert, I believe it was in or near Flint. Parking was free and you were allowed to bring in your own coolers and food. It was so nice that way. (B93 won't let you, they make you BUY IT there and it's really expensive) They also had a lot of kid friendly activites like Elsie the cow handing out free ice cream, etc. It was a blast. I wish I remember the radio station. We went specifically because Colin Raye was there and he is one of our faves.
Ok, just looked it up again- $220 is for a large RV with up to 6 people. BUT, the cheapest is STILL over $100 for 2 nights-
Prices are as follows:
That is just CRAZY. I can't imagine paying $60 a night for ROUGH camping- no electric, no water. That's nuts.
That sucks!
We have been dealing with a lot of flooding in our area too, for a while there yesterday there was no way out of our area as both exits were cut off by the high water. Not that we were going to go anywhere in that weather, but it would be nice to be able to if we had to.
We live in an area that as of yet, hasn't flooded since we've lived here. I am guessing we're up on a hill a bit, because a lot of surrounding areas flood out. We do have a river, with a park right by it. If anywhere would flood, it'd be that area.
WOW!!! Good thing you weren't there.
I am counting it as a blessing!
I am a little nervous as I am supposed to drive through Holland on Monday enroute to Michigan City and then Chicago and Wisconsin and I heard a lot of the roads in Holland are GONE. I don't know how I even find out what is okay and what isn't as far as driving.
Oh, boy- I don't know. Maybe ask on the tightwads group if anyone lives in that area, and if they can email you a road update?
What is it with flooding in the USA? We never have floods up here in Canada. I am constantly hearing about the wild-fires, and the floods.... what's up with American weather?
We have a lot of rivers in this area, but generally, aside from spring thaw, nothing up here floods, either. The lower you are towards the water, the more likely it is to flood when the spring thaw hits. Or, when there's a severe thunder storm with a lot of water in a short time.
I think I'll just stay up here in Canada! :) Too bad it doesn't flood where the wild-fires are. They could USE the water.
No doubt! Every year, California has wild fires. That would terrify me. All in all, we live in an area where the most likely natural disaster is 12 feet of snow over night ;) In June. Just kidding. ;)
LOL At all the snow.
There was a wicked fire in AZ in 2006 (go to Walker's page and look at some of his EARLIEST PHOTOS) started by some idiot in Oak Creak Canyon, playing with a box of matches.
there are more pics of the birthday bash flooding here: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=356290603&albumId=888614&page=3
That is just crazy!
oh my that is crazy..I hope everyone is okay
I haven't heard of anyone being hurt in it- just stranded. They went ahead and opened up the middle school near by, and have people camping out there until they can get a ride home. Many reports are saying it's closer to 1000-2000 cars stranded. Ugh! I can't imagine the damage that water is causing to some of those cars! I used to have an escort that would die any time it rained, because of a leaky seal. That water would have been death to my transportation, and I'm sure it will be to many others!
Wow! I'm glad you weren't there.
I am as well!
Definately a blessing you weren't there! maybe another country music artist/group will come to your area soon, then you won't have to drive so far
I'm going to do some research and see what I can find out about local concerts in the park type series- small towns that have free summer concerts. I used to love those as a kid. When I was a teen, my favorite rock station did free concerts in the park every Thursday in the city. I got to see some awesome bands, including Verve Pipe (they had JUST hit it big, b ut they're from this area).
Wow, that's too bad the concert got flooded out. It would have been awful to be stuck in all that water.
In every disappointment, give thanks. But sorry to hear about the food. i hope nobody lost their lives.
I'm sorry to hear about this.
sorry to hear that