I’m not sure that anyone has missed me, but I was looking through my posts and realized that I haven’t written a blog since April! I’ve been kinda busy and really haven’t had the time or energy to write anything recently. But I’m on a hiatus from work so I thought now would be a good time to catch you up on what I’ve been doing.

Basically I returned to work with Ravenswood Special Events. They’re an events company in Chicago. They’re main client is the City of Chicago, setting up the festivals that happen in Millineum and Grant Parks. Actually the Gospel Music Festival and Looptopia are really the only two events that happen in Millineum Park the rest happen in Grant Park. Then there’s the Air and Water Show. But I digress. So the company that I work for sets up the festivals. In case anyone was unaware Chicago is the city of free festivals. There is probably a major or minor festival every weekend from May to October. I think it’s because the winters are so bloody cold that we try to make up of it by having buckets of fun during the summer months.

My job is to assemble and put up all the signs that are at the events. My major undertaking is the Taste of Chicago. The Taste is a 10 day street festival that has 65 restaurants from the Chicago area come and sell their lovely food. There are free concerts every night and activities for the young and old. It’s the one festival that many Chicagoans look forward to all year. As evidenced, by the million plus people that show up for the July 3rd fireworks.

The past couple of weeks I have been working 10 plus hours a day to get up the signs and maintain what is already up. It’s a job that many people take for granted, but if it isn’t done on a timely manner then people want to know why. So it’s somewhat thankless as well. If it’s done right it’s expected, if it’s not done right you get crap for it. I’ve been working for Ravenswood for 9 or 10 seasons now. So I know most of what’s going on pretty well. Even though they like to throw a curve ball every now and again. It seems that just when I get into a routine then there is something new that is added. This year was the fact that handicap signs had to be added to all the booths that were at the event. That can be pretty time consuming when you have 65 restaurants, nine ticket booths, and 21 or so beverage/alcohol booths. Not to mention things like info and souvenir booths. That’s on top of all the other signs that had to go up. But I did it. Basically my days consisted of getting up and 5:30 AM working from 7:00 AM to 5 or 6 PM, showering, eating, maybe watching some tv and then going to bed to start all over again.

The thing is I don’t mind it so much. I mean I like  being physical, and working with my hands. The weather actually wasn’t to hot this year. Even though I somehow got sunburned on my shoulders. Probably ’cause I was wearing tank tops everyday and neglected to put sunscreen on. (Yes, black people can get burned too. It just takes a little longer.)

Now that the Taste has ended and everything has been cleaned and reorganized I have some time off until the next couple of festivals which will be Air and Water and VIVA. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to sleep in. Watch some crappy summer programing. See a couple of movies and have a party or two.

It’s unfortunate that the festival season isn’t all year round. I wouldn’t mind doing this permanently. Once the Marathon happens though that’s about it. I’ve already started looking for other work. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Hopefully I’ll get a permanent full time job with benefits and not have to worry about seasonal jobs ever again.

I took a bunch of pictures of my work, so that I can put together a manual. I’ll post some of them later so you can see what was on my plate.