Welcome to Walla Walla
The signs of the Gentlemen of the Road Stopover can be seen everywhere in downtown Walla Walla. What fun it is to witness all of the imagination, creativity and spirit come alive in this once-in-a-lifetime event for our little town. From city crews madly finishing up the road construction, to food vendors bringing in additional supplies to keep the crowds well hydrated and fed, to shop keepers decorating their storefronts a' la GOTR, to the festival crews setting up the camping site and music venue itself, thousands of people are working together to make this event happen.
Pavers are cut to fit at the corner of Colville and Alder,
while new traffic signal poles await to be put in place.
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Downtown festival goers will need plenty to drink, so merchants are stocking up
with bottled water, sodas, and coffee drinks. Bring on the crowds!
Nearly every restaurant, merchant, and shop--big and little--have spiffed up their storefronts and rolled out the welcome mat for the 20,000 + out-of-town visitors, plus who knows how many locals who are expected to attend the three-day festival.
What's your favorite window display?
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Lest we not forget, this is a music festival. Beyond the 'Road Closed' sign
is the main stage where Foo Fighters will perform on Friday night
and Mumford and Sons on Saturday night.
Other preparations are underway at the main entrance of the concert venue
(behind Borlesk stadium and the old swimming pool) where festival goers
will pass through a parade of GOTR flags into the open grassy setting.
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For those who are camping, the fairways of Veteran's Memorial Golf Course
will become a makeshift tent city for three nights. To accommodate
all these guests, mobile showers and porta-potties, aka Honey Buckets,
have been trucked in from as far as Tacoma on the west side of the state.
And by the way. . .
And finally, even Valley Transit has joined the GOTR mania.
That is quite an event to organize. Here's hoping for good weather and not too many pugnacious drunken visitors.
ReplyDeleteIt's been in the works for at least 10 months. While very hot today, the weather promises to cool down to the mid 80s. There are also very strict rules as to what can and cannot be brought into the concert venue, and public drinking downtown is supposed to be limited to bars and beer gardens. That said, the police force has extras and the word from the other GOTR sites from this year and in the past have all been favorable. So we're hoping for the same here.
DeleteThe preparations look very extensive and organized!
ReplyDelete