Catbird Festival- DayOne

It was weird not driving to the employee parking lot, but when I arrived to the campground entrance. Up ahead, I saw a small sea of green Bethel security shirts. I parked my car and walked through the wet, squishy grass towards them. This is when I realized my first mistake of the day- wearing my black supervisor shirt. Immediately, everyone started asking me questions. This is when I uttered the words, “i dont know, but I’ll find out.” The first time of many, that I would utter that phrase this weekend. I spoke to the crew in charge of the operation. I spoke to the festival people. I spoke to my boss. Apparently they were hoping to let the ground dry out a bit before the 6,000 or so campers started leaving their mark. I called my boss again and then I gave 14 guards their first job of the day. Wait around for six hours and watch the grass grow…or dry- which was a difficult task for the grass. Especially when it started raining again. Not once, not twice, but three times. Short, steady storms rolled in and out of the otherwise clear, sunny skies. The wet Bethel ground was getting wetter. Finally, after a bunch of sitting, listening to music, walking around, talking to other workers and maybe a quick little nap, our boxed dinners arrived. They weren’t terrible, but I was glad I stopped at Big Kev’s for some of their awesome pulled pork. I drove by the entrance, and was on the brink of going straight to work, but I had time and something told me to go back. Now, Big Kev’s may not look like much, but it is always busy and always delicious. I had passed the roadside eatery a hundred times, and always wanted to stop there, but hadn’t until this year- thanks to an amazing friend and a little adventure. Thank God for my spontaneous decision, because in true Murphy’s Law fashion, minutes after the boxed dinners came, we were told that we were opening up the gates.

Last weekend was the long awaited “Catbird Festival” at Bethel Woods. Three days of 12 – 14 hours of work- or as I later described it- twenty hours of work in a 14 hour shift. Friday was camper check in day. I took the day off from my full time job so I could be there to help out. Little did I know what was in store for me. I was pretty psyched to have a 12:00 start time. My hour and twenty minute drive was a bit more casual and relaxed than normal. I left myself enough time so I didn’t have to race too get there…I didn’t have to. As I approached the hallowed grounds of Woodstock on the exact day of the 54th anniversary of the final day of the original festival, in true Bethel fashion,it was wet out. It had rained the night before. It rained a lot. It rained so much, that the 12:00 opening of the campground had been changed to 6:00, as I was told by the construction sign that was posted a mile or so before the venue…which I drove by at 11:35.

I’m not sure if anyone was prepared for what came next. Well, the festival people are probably used to it, but we were given minimal information. I had two guards set up at each of six stations. The cars were to pull up to the station and we would wand all the campers and inspect the contents of the vehicles for weapons and glass bottles…and bicycles. Next thing I knew, we had about 600 cars lined up in our six lanes and through the hilly country roads of Bethel. It was about six hours of steady inspections, funny conversations and glass bottle confiscation. Beer and vodka were probably the most common. Champagne was pretty popular. Tequila, whiskey and drink mixes were next. 99% of the campers were fun and friendly and we allowed some to transfer their booze into plastic containers. It was amusing to watch people dump bottle after bottle of Poland Spring water and refill them with liquor. By the end of the night, I had enough alcohol to open a small liquor store in a busy little town. Sadly, it all stayed behind.

Our crew worked hard and we processed about 1,000 cars, vans, campers and RV’s well before midnight. Many, many glass bottles were confiscated. Many gallons of liquor were transferred into small plastic water bottles. Several bicycles had to be relocated. A few weapons had to be re-homed. Right around midnight, we shut down five lanes and left one open for the stragglers. I dismissed the guards and stayed behind for another 45 minutes, waiting for my replacements, who showed up an hour and a half late. All in all, things worked out and the festival people said we did a great job and moved at a perfect pace.