High School Open House

Belladonna's open house is scheduled for 2-until-6 on Sunday, June 7.

We opted to rent the football stadium for the event.  It is centrally located.  It has a covered pavilion and a kitchen with warming cabinets and coolers.

Renting the football stadium means that I was not obliged to Armor All the siding on the house nor did I have to pick up each landscaping rock and vacuum around it.

Lest you think I jest, one of the guys I worked with did exactly that.  Did you know that you can buy Armor All in five gallon buckets?  It makes vinyl siding look just like new.

And, in theory, renting the football stadium implies that we have the ability to host up to 5000 guests.

The weather

Mrs ERJ is stressing about the weather.  She wants this open house to go well.

The weather forecast predicts a 50% chance of thunder storms with a possibility of high winds from the south-southwest.

This picture is looking into the pavilion from the SSW.  That is, from the direction the wind is predicted to be blowing from.

The area under the pavilion can comfortably contain 180 people.  For the $200 fee, the school district threw in 16 tables and about 90 chairs and the use of the 15' by 50' kitchen.  The kitchen has cinder block walls and forms the south side of the pavilion space.  It is an awesome bargain.

We already purchased tarps and chicken bands to add to the fencing on the west side of the pavilion to provide protection from the SSW wind in the event that the thunderstorms materialize.  Wind and rain from the SSW is not the issue.

Looking into the pavilion from the southeast.

The joker in the deck is if the wind clocks around and starts coming in from the southeast.  There is no fencing to attach tarps to.  This opening is 16 feet tall.

The 2000 square feet (estimated) of sheltered space will shrink down to about 800 square feet if we get wind driven rain coming in from the southeast.  It will get darned cozy.

The guys from the school district set up the tables and chairs on the east end of the pavilion.

The guys set up the tables where they will be most sheltered from our prevailing SW winds.  However, it puts the visitors in a Venturi feature if the wind changes to the SE.  That will play hob with the photographs and such.

This might not matter if all of our guests were local.

My picture of a high school open house is a shifting kaleidoscope of people drifting in-and-out.  My basic outlook is happy-go-lucky.  I figure people will not show up if the weather goes into the ditch.

Mrs ERJ informs me that this is not exactly accurate.  We are expecting Belladonna's birth family to send a contingent from 80 miles away.  They are likely to stay for the entire four hours.  We are also expecting a contingent from Mrs ERJ's family who will be coming from 120 miles away and a contingent from my side of the family who live about 25 miles away.  The high-end estimate of the number of people who might be there the entire 4 hours is fifty people.

On paper we have a capacity of 96 people (16 tables X 6/table), but two of the tables are earmarked for food and another two tables are earmarked for awards, pictures, etc.  That drops our sit-down capacity to 64....which is not much greater than the fifty who might camp at the open house for the entire four hours.

The space is well appointed with benches. 

I called one of my brothers to help me scrounge up an additional 20 chairs and five extra tables.  We will need the overflow if the weather is crappy.  As noted earlier there is plenty of overflow capacity if the weather is good.  It is a sports stadium, for goodness sake.

So, if the weather is half-way descent, and you are in Eaton Rapids this Sunday....drop into the athletic stadium between 2-and-6 and let Bella know what a great gal she is.  We will make sure you don't leave hungry.

Update:
Weather forecast now predicts 14 mph winds out of the south and hourly T-storms in the afternoon.