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Deer Park, WI

Friday, 10:00 am- major sponsor calls and backs out at the last minute, all of a sudden, your prize structure just took a $750 hit

Friday, 2:00 pm- miscommunication with the host city, your weighoff site needs to be moved because a wedding was scheduled here before you got the date and someone on the inside "messed up"

Saturday, 1:00 am- should be asleep, but friday's messes keep the mind swirling

Saturday, 6:00 am- alarm goes off 10 minutes after you finally have fallen asleep

Saturday, 7:00 am- set up begins. no one else is there, this will be the quietest, most peaceful time of the day. Take it in, enjoy it, cause all hell is about to break loose...

Saturday, 8:00 am- skid loader hasnt arrived yet, but the first grower has. Scale was just set and calibrated. Lifter works. Major hurdle jumped *whew*

9/11/2009 9:41:33 PM

Deer Park, WI

Saturday, 9:00 am- skid is here, growers trickling in. Where are those registration forms?

Saturday, 10:00 am- registration officially opens. Someone needs to tape those fruit and log the information. That car needs to move. That trailer needs to be parked across the way.

Saturday, 11:00 am- fruit are hitting the scale. Cant hear the announcer, can someone turn up the volume on the PA? and what was that Grower's hometown again? Holy crap, that's a big pumpkin...who brought that one?

Saturday, 12:00 pm- shoulda had all the fruit weighed by now. The line of pumpkins to go is still 10 deep. Bittersweet. Damn, wish i could put this thing on pause and catch up with some of the guys.

9/11/2009 9:49:21 PM

Deer Park, WI

Saturday, 1:00 pm- A new state record...sweet. Damn, its hard to crunch these numbers with all these distractions. ...I'll talk to you later, need to get ready for awards.... Can someone grab me a sandwich? im running on empty here.

Saturday, 2:00 pm- "and first place goes to....." Congrats. Great job. Congrats. I'd like to thank our sponsors... Is this microphone on?

Saturday, 3:00 pm- Still havent gotten my sandwich. jeez im hungry. For the first time, i realize there are a hell of a lot of big pumpkins sitting around here.

Saturday, 4:00 pm- Lets load em up, eh? Watch out for those people standing there... Is there enough diesel in the fork? Yes, we'll get you loaded up in just a minute, please understand these other pumpkins need to be loaded first...

Saturday, 5:00 pm- there's still 2 hours of clean up here. ugh, im tired. Is all this effort even worth it? why do i even bother?

Saturday, 6:00 pm- by now someone has posted on BP all the flaws and shortcomings of the day. Nice.

Saturday, 7:00 pm- finally home, time to upload some weighoff data.

Saturday, 8:00 pm- the first email arrives from the second place grower. "great weighoff today, i really enjoyed myself. cant wait to come back next year!"

Saturday, 9:00 pm- reflection time. yeah, its worth it.

Not looking for recognition folks, just a little tolerance and respect. There's a buttload of work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure the fruit get weighed and the growers get paid. Dont forget to give a nod to your event organizer. Or at the very least, make sure he/she gets a sandwich around noon. Could make their day-

9/11/2009 10:02:01 PM

[email protected]

Ouch.

9/11/2009 10:04:17 PM

[email protected]

Just another crazy day in the life of a weighoff organizer.

9/11/2009 10:06:24 PM

Massillon, Ohio

millions of thanks to all who organize these events and work hard (ALL YEAR) not just fri and sat to keep the clubs going!!!!!

(time for a hey-hey shout out to alan gibson; he rocks!!)

9/11/2009 10:12:52 PM

Mulino, Oregon

Joe, you couldn't have said it any better. That is truely how it goes. Did you ever get your sandwich? lol

Jim 'I feel your pain' Sherwood

9/12/2009 9:25:57 AM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Thanks Joze, I'm heading into it here... I tuck a bag of fig newtons in my VITAL box when doing or going to any event.....and anybody touching them gets their arm lopped off :) Hope you got your sandwich.

Any other gems to pass on? :)

Deb Rebel, chief worrywart for 5-State Cimarron @ Boise City Oct 17th

9/12/2009 10:09:32 AM

Halifax, Nova Scotia

This should be a clue for all you folks without pumpkins that go to the weigh-offs and stand around all day. Volounteer! Every little bit helps!

9/12/2009 10:28:39 AM

Deer Park, WI

Jim- i did score the sandwich. It was a lifesaver. Deb- The degree of chaos is inversely proportional to the number of DEDICATED support staff. I've developed a list of jobs that I send out to club directors a couple weeks beforehand, if gaps remain, i solicit general membership. If you'd like me to send the list, shoot me an email [email protected]

Thanks to those who took the time to read my rant.

9/12/2009 12:52:00 PM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Email sent. Thank you So Much!

signed ~chief worrywart :)

9/12/2009 1:37:03 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Joze, I would like to see this list also!!! Our 3rd annual KGPG weigh-off is on Sat the 19th!!! Would like to see if we might have a base or two uncovered!!! Thanks for the great post!!! Email sent!!! Peace, Wayne (aka skunk cap boy)!!! LOL

9/15/2009 12:56:00 AM