I felt like I was just recovering from the reeling experience of our Women in Motorsport Summit when Adam Papp knocked on my door. It was time to plan SummerFest.
Then, suddenly, it was July 7 and I was woken up at 2am to a nightmare that no-one had shown up to the festivities. And I mean no-one.
I stood on the front steps of DirtFish, rocking back and forth on my heels, sure that we must’ve set up a day early by mistake or gotten our times wrong. Nope. Still just us DirtFish employees watching the seconds go by as the Group B cars sat lonesome and our SummerFest flags blew in the breeze.
I woke up (for real) on July 8 and made my way to HQ. After a long day of all-hands-on-deck set up on Friday, we were all itching for the party to start. We ran around putting up signs, tents, flags. Steve’s beautiful collection of cars came rolling down the hill. Thrill ride cars were being warmed up and the course was being built. We were deep into our internal preparations.
But still, at the back of my mind, my nightmare played on repeat. ‘What if no-one shows up?’
Thankfully, my subconscious dreams were wrong.
Very wrong.
We told our vendors to load in at 10am. The first one arrived at 8.30am.
‘Here we go’, I thought.
From there, the stream never stopped. I stood at the base of our hill filtering our visitors through, and not once did I see the top of the hill clear again.
Car show? Go see Sean. He’ll park you.
Vendor? Go see Adam, the guy waving over there. He’s got your layout plan.
Spectator? Turn around, the event starts at noon!
Suddenly, the lot was filled with an ocean of shiny cars and amazing vendors. All that was left was to open the gates to the public. We did.
The parking lot filled. Then the overflow lot filled. There was brief radio chatter about what to do if we ran out of space, but our volunteers showed their creativity for the 50th time that day. They made more parking. Where? I have no idea. That might live as their forever magic trick…
I had the joy of sharing my time with Brandon Semenuk and Sara Price, both of whom were not only the kindest, most down to earth people, but also the types of people who stop when they see you.
Each child, fan or fanatic that walked up to either of them was immediately greeted with a smile, a high five and an autograph. Neither of these stars missed any opportunity to interact with our audience, and it was felt – deeply.
And both of them got the chance to celebrate a 21st birthday with one DirtFish fan who chose to spend that lifetime moment with us. Entering our raffle in the hope of landing a ride with Brandon or Sara, the rally gods shone down on him.
He won both! Not one ride, but two. And throughout his thrill ride with Brandon and Sara, the smile never faded. It was the best birthday yet.
And just as quickly as it came, SummerFest came to an end. With somewhere around 2000 visitors, 40 vendors, the Subaru Motorsport Expo Trailer and never-ending thrill rides, it was an absolute day to remember (and one we can’t wait to top next year).
