Wouldn’t it be great if Pachelbel himself were having an ice cream at Days when he hears an orchestra playing this piece inside one of the tents? It might be a little tight for the string section, and we can substitute a euphonium for the stand up bass.
But otherwise it would be fine if the conductor could just be on a pedestal by the Stokes statue. And everybody could sit on beach chairs outside and enjoy the tent concert.
The tents are now all empty. A cold rainy end-of-September breeze is wafting along Asbury Avenue. Some of the tents are open to the elements, and this one has white canvas that is catching the breezes and flapping about, making soft sounds as the material seems alive. Inside there is a yellow color that contrasts with the gray day. A bit of light shows through and makes the interior glow. Dusk is upon us, and soon it will all turn dark.
It won’t be long before the Camp Meeting crew gets here and buttons it all down. But meanwhile, while the day seems sad, there still is a spark of life evident here on this desolate Grovarian street.
This year the craft show was sold out, with over 300 crafters, the largest number ever, happily showing their wares on Ocean Pathway. The Camp Meeting Association was fortunate to have picture-perfect weather, and the aisles were wider than for the flea market, making it a more pleasant and less congested experience for strollers, shoppers, and even for photographers.
For the second year, Alison and Mark Mitchell, two tenters, were organizing the event. They were buzzing around the venue in their bright green shirts making sure that all was well and that no phony-baloneys were lurking about such as anyone importing Chinese-made stuff.
Alison and Mark were on the scene at 5:30 with the traffic crew, bringing them hot coffee and donuts. Crafters received 30 minutes to unload their displays. We caught up with the dynamic duo at 10:00 am, as they flitted around the show looking to plug leaks, fix cracks and calm nerves.
Only home crafters were admitted to the show and all of those exhibitors had to be vetted by Mark and Alison. They had to submit photographs of themselves busy in their workshops. One artist who worked with steel had the burns on his arms to prove his credentials.
Since all of you are familiar with scenes of craft shows on the Pathway, we concentrated on portraits of some of the artists.
“Hey, it’s CSI,” said the guy in the street taking pictures. The DPW truck had rolled up a short time before. The corner of Delaware and Mt. Hermon Way was the scene of the crime. There had been a drive-by garbage drop. A black plastic bag had splattered on the delicate asphalt of one of OG’s historic intersections, and SPLAT, refuse was spread around into a circular crime scene.
The two special agents from Neptune DPW circled the mess and pondered what to do. Meredith Rosenberg, a neighbor, was observing from a safe distance on the sidewalk as she suggested that they photograph the garbage.
Why, you ask? Well Meredith must watch those CSI shows. She noticed that there was mail in the muck.
“Take a picture of it,” she said. “You can trace the crime back to the criminal.”
When I arrived on the scene, the DPI special agent was bent over taking some macro photos of the mail (Apple calls it macro-mail or the i-Crime solver app.)
The DPI truck rolled away with the evidence, no doubt to get to the lab. After all, without DNA, you can’t get a conviction any more. Jurors watch TV.
Weatherman Rick Cuttrell says, “As we close the books on one of the all-time coldest months on record, March is coming in like a lion with wintery precipitation threats today, Tuesday night and then possibly a third on Thursday.” Emergenchy parking rules are in effect today.
Blogfinger photographers love to photograph snow, so even though you may be sick of the white stuff, we love good photography:
