Saturday, July 7, 2012

Cherry Creek and Lots of Water

We found out the hard way today that art festivals and massive amounts of water don't really mix.
A flash flood hit the show around 4:00pm and our booth happened to be at the confluence of two alleys. The water rose to knee depth and started to bend poles, and move the panels to the point that they were leaning and in danger of collapsing. We had no choice but to remove all the artwork from the booth as quickly as possible from the panels. This meant exposing them to the heavy rain. We stacked all the work against the side of a building. Kind bystanders helped form a fire-line and moved it all pretty quickly. All the work that was stacked in the booth off the walls is lost. Some of it we actually pulled out from under water! It was wild!

Final artwork damage won't be counted until tomorrow, but so far one macbook pro bites the dust as well as a stash of chargers. We'll head to the site in the morning and remove the booth, then take stock, try to dry out and head on home! Bummer! Wish we had pictures. In the chaos of it all, we didn't think to take any. Might have been good for insurance.

Wish us luck!

BTW, I apologize for the empty post the other day. My mistake!


12 comments:

Jo Reimer said...

I am so sorry for your loss, Marla, and hoping for the best re: insurance. How tragic!

Jennifer Phillips said...

Oh my! And I thought WIND was the worst case scenario! I am sooooo sorry Marla. Will you be able to do any other festivals this season?

Karen Lewis said...

Wow! That sounds like the toughest show I've ever heard of.

David Bjurstrom said...

DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!!

I so feel for you.

SamArtDog said...

So sorry, Marla! We just saw the Cherry Creek flood on the news and thought of you. It looked brutal. Absolutely nuts after the last months of drought and wildfires. Climate catastrophes everywhere.
Travel home safely!

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

That's horrible! So very sorry!

Eden Compton Studio said...

So sorry to hear about your loss Marla - hope it's not too bad!

JacMac said...

OH MY, I can't even begin to imagine what that was like to go through. Many things in life happen for a reason which we sometimes don't realize for years to come. So very sorry you had such a horrible experience and some sort of good comes to you from your loss.

liz said...

Marla, OMG, sounds so awful and a recap of what happened about eight years ago. I ended up having to leave my canopy there , couldn't even close it it was so bent, and had to slit the fabric with a knife to let through the piles of hail. Same thing happened as I had to watch the water build up BEHIND my frames until I finally took them down and stacked them. Had lots of damage that MY HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE DID COVER (StateFarm) I hope you are so lucky. I know the feeling of devstation.

Judy Wise said...

Sending condolences too. Bizarre weather indeed. Have been through a few myself but never lost a macbook or so many paintings at once. Very sorry.

Wendy DeHart said...

Oh Marla, I could cry for you! How devestating! As if the festivalcircuit weren't hard enough! Safe trip home!

Ruth Armitage said...

Thinking of you... I hope you are able to salvage some of it... what a horribly stressful situation. Hang in there, and let me know if you need pro-panels. I have 9 I'm not using this summer.