Americana Wrap-Up

Last I wrote, we had just arrived at Americana, a weekend long music/lifestyle festival.

After almost being rained out Thursday and Friday, the clouds gave us a bit of a break and it warmed up nicely enough to enjoy time outside.

We were easily the least patriotic of the bunch and we don't own a stitch of western gear! Folks and rigs were decked out in American (and some confederate) flags. Vintage automobiles, motorcycles, and newer rigs like Chevy Tahoes, Suburbans, and such abounded. It was very strange to be surrounded by these "oversized" American rigs after almost a full year of seeing virtually only compacts and sub-compacts.



One row of American RVs out for the weekend




The best part of the weekend was having a chance to say our goodbyes to folks we've met along the way - all our best to Robert and Diane; Phillip and Des (and Jemma); Roger & Marion - and all the many others we met along the way & over the weekend. Happy trails, y'all!



Main stage




Homemade caravan + business. The back of this unit is a firing range(!) with a container stacked on top for living quarters.




American fashion interpreted.


Feeling it yet?



Custom trikes!


Nice!


Classic Winnie!

To the event organizers, I recommend a few changes. We recommend adapting to the modern crowd, even if it means cutting out some of the bands to change the energy level of the event. Here are the highlights of our thoughts after the weekend - I'm hapy to consult on future event planning! =) =) =)

• Musical diversity - Country Western and Rockabilly are well covered. There were almost too many concerts to try and figure out which were worth attending. Feel free to mix it up a little with some 70's and 80's cover bands. The audience is young enough to recognize and appreciate the music.
• About that rain... you know it's going to rain, why not plan for temporary staging in front of stage 2 (which was a complete mud bog for 3 of the 4 days) and possibly tents for both the main stage and stage 2.
• Dance diversity - There was a huge emphasis on line dancing. Break it up - offer hip hop, square dancing, etc.
• Food - This was a total miss (and extremely overpriced too). Missing in action were: apple pie, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, BBQ, Tex-Mex food... the list goes on. An event like this would be premium space for American breweries (RedHook, Pyramid, Deschutes) to show that we too have great beer. Wineries too - any that are in the international business should be banging on the event planner's doors to be at the event.
• Activities - Add some interactive events that don't break the bank. Music is fine, but 3 solid days of lawn-chair concerts feels a bit dull after day 1. Easy crowd pleasers that fit the Americana theme: comedy, rock wall climbing, American football exhibition (with cheerleaders -- tell me a college team wouldn't be thrilled to pull this off), rodeo exhibition (with an honest to goodness announcer and cowboys - think Ellensburg Rodeo), roller derby, heck, even an outdoor movie. There was plenty of room at the showgrounds to accomodate all of these activities and the entertainment value would make people feel good about the money spent to attend. (50 pp + 25 camping)
• Make traveling to America a reality - This would be a prime event for the large tourism offices to show up - where's the Las Vegas tourism board? New York? Florida? I know many of the folks who attend the event don't make it out of the UK. That said, there are tons that do and there are tons that can, but they need that little push to tell them it's OK. American RV rental firms should be out in force - show folks that they can come on vacation and rent an American RV. Bring out the tourism industry with videos, posters, itineraries. The interest is there - these folks LOVE America and want a "genuine" experience.

Off the soap box. If you can't tell from above, at present, the event feels a bit tired and the crowds are not super energetic. This is more of a series of lawn chair concerts (though folks were driving their picups and classic cars to and from the concert fields).



On our way home very shortly. Can't wait to settle back in!

Ciao!