Weatherman correctly predicts rain...blind squirrel finds nut...news at 11

I guess if you keep predicting rain, wind and misery, you will eventually be right. Still working on the rest of the costume photos, and will try to get them posted later today, along with the winning pumpkin entries. Today's weather may keep the Bingo crowd down a little, but I am sure some will stick around for the Magic Show at 1PM and perhaps even the egg toss. We are all quite thankful that the weather turned out to be so dry for the big events of the weekend on Fri & Sat, for while it was chilly, there are always mittens or hand-warmers to solve that problem...and if you are looking for a red-neck version of a hand warmer, I suggest using the doggy bags at the Pet Park to keep your hands dry, and then appreciating the radiant warmth generated when picking up after Fido does his business. Worked for me this morning.

Impressive Costumes...especially the groups

Seussville

The Circus

Toy Story (teen group champs)

9-1-1

Alice in Wonderland

Tetris

With no disrespect intended toward the multi-age groups of Halloween Weekends 1 & 2, there were 4 groups today that would have probably won on each of those other two weekends. Will post a few photos now, but more on Sunday or Monday. Alice in Wonderland was 1st, followed by Seuss and the Circus, with Tetris one of the honorable mentions. Site decorating winners will be announced in an hour, but if you are home reading this now, you find out a little early...first prize was site 135 (rental RV down by shuffleboard courts), 2nd was site 283 (their own little haunted house) and 3rd was site 259 (the aliens). Nice job by all--hoping for some adult costumes as good as week #1. Thanks again to Mother Nature for providing another precipitation-free day.

A: Vampires, Ghosts, Boogeymen & Meteorologists

Jeopardy Question: Name 4 things that take pleasure in trying to scare the living bejeesus out of you. On Wednesday, you hear things like "Five straight days of wind and rain and snow and cold and floods and locust" or "A triple threat N'oreaster blizzard of '78 revisited". Seriously, did anyone notice the weather on Friday? It did not rain. It did not snow. The wind was calm, and the sun came out in the afternoon. Over 200 people joined us at Bingo on Friday night, and there were a few campers who had called to cancel who wound up calling to un-cancel after their friends showed up and told them they were being woosies and we were not buried in snow drifts. How about today? Although the bright sun that was shining earlier has given way to clouds, it looks like any rain is going to hold off until later in the day, so we are optimistic about the costume parade happening at the field as planned, and trick or treating staying reasonably dry. Might be a little iffy for the bonfire, and the overnight could be rather damp...but who knows, they have been dead wrong for the last 36 hours. Be sure to take a trip through the Haunted Hall, and join us for the Steve Wronker Hypnosis Show at 12:30, right after the pony rides (yes, the horses are going out in this weather), or Bingo at 2PM. Is it a little colder than we would like? Sure, but October is unpredictable, and so far that unpredictability extends to weather forecasters trying to see far, far into the future (like 24 hours from the broadcast). Sorry if I sound bitter (more bitter than the temperature? maybe, maybe not) but when one third of the weekend reservations call inquiring about a cancel (you would not believe how many aunts died this week, exceeded only by the massive outbreaks of influenza that were non-existent just 5 days ago when the weather...and the weather forecast...was perfect). Stay tuned for some photos of the costume parade, coming up at 5pm.

At least it isn't raining

When it rains in the summer, they always say that if it were snow, we'd have 10 inches or so. The opposite is true today, for if it were raining, there would be more puddles...but these wet flakes soak right in, except on a few surfaces where the slush remains. Although it is cold now, it is starting to warm up. Looks like it will be windy overnight and into early Friday, with less wind and rain as the weekend progresses. Still hoping for a cooperative Saturday afternoon for the costume parade and trick or treat time.

Forecasts and weather realities

Meteorologists like to be the lead story on the evening news, and mundane forecasts keep them at 18 minutes past the hour. Not saying that it won't be chilly and damp at times, but some of them make it sound like we should get out the snow blowers...while 3 weeks ago they hinted that building an ark might be a good move. If you recall, the weekend that was supposed to be constant rain all weekend ended up being great on Friday, nice on Sunday and just a light rain on Saturday from about 10am until 4pm, which happens sometimes. That leads us to the calls for cancels, which are interesting in their perspective. There are some coming in tents who have called to upgrade to a rental RV, as they would prefer a little more shelter...while there are those in 40' motorhomes who are looking to cancel. Unlike the off-season, or some place where there are no special events associated with the weekend, such is not the case at Strawberry Park, especially during the Halloween Weekends. Unless you have booked entertainment, perhaps as a fund raiser, you have no idea of the costs involved with magicians, hypnotists, musicians and DJs, all of whom will still be perfoming and getting paid (even if it rains, in which case the venue will change). We will still be giving away over $1000 in prizes to the costume winners, and over $500 in prizes to the site decorating winners. The haunted hall is open for the 4 Halloween Saturdays, and costs over $20,000 to design, erect, staff and dismantle. For the campers who don't understand why they can't simply get a credit for a future stay if looking to cancel the dat before arrival because of the weather, try to follow the math invloved. Simplest example would be if 1/2 of the sites cancel because of the weather. The costs involved with the current weekend do not diminish (maybe the jumping pillow won't be open some of the time, so it won't need to be staffed by that one employee, but all else goes on as scheduled). If there are 200 site reservations, there would be two options to cover all associated costs. The first would be to double the fee of everyone still coming to camp...which would probably not go over very well. The other is offering those who cancel a chance to come at another time...but since their camping fees have paid for the entertainment and activities on the weekend for which they canceled, they would need to come and camp when there is nothing going on, such as a November weekend, or perhaps mid-week in May, since they are camping using a credit from a stay that was canceled but still needed to be operated as if they were coming. Either that, or if those who cancled wanted to be offered the same level of events and entertainment for their re-scheduled visit, they would need to cover those costs, which for the stuff taking place on a Halloween Weekend would be the difference between an off-season stay with nothing happening ($60) and the cost of a Halloween Weekend, which is $182. Keep in mind that if there is rain on October 31 (actual Halloween), chances are that most of your neighborhood is not going to reschedule trick or treating for the next week...it will happen rain or shine, and those who have a positive outlook will make it enjoyable for the kids. Same is true here...many folks will enjoy Steve Wronker's hypnosis show, the kids will laugh just as hard at Mr. Magic, the costume winners on a damp Saturday will be just as excited as those who won in clear skies, the ceramics crew of Ron & Arlene will be just as accomodating, the Bingo winners will be just as thrilled, the pumpkin carving entrants will be as eagerly waiting the announcement of the winners, and so on. Will some events be a little tougher if we have to hold them under the Rec Center? Yes, the parade can be tricky, but it works. And besides, despite the weather headlines, the details that have followed have indicated that those Friday night football games will probably still be fine, as will the Yankees game, and Saturday is likely to be more often clear than rainy. Knowing our calendar well in advance helps, as we put very few strong requests in to Mother Nature back in January (the Saturday of Bluegrass and Cajun Weekends, the Saturday of Carnival Weekend and the 4 Halloween Weekend Saturdays from 4:30PM until 8PM, covering the parade and the trick or treating), and she does not usually let us down. Bring a poncho, bring some mittens, fill those LP gas tanks and join us. I'll be the one still wearing shorts and smiling like it is an August day of 80 degrees.

Congrats to Bocce Champs & Pot Luck Cooks

Congratulations to our Annual Columbus Day Weekend Bocce Tournament winners, Brenda and Bill Dias. They went undefeated, as 37 teams battled for the trophies. 2nd place went to Matt & Dan, while Chris & Jake placed 3rd. Our Pot Luck Dinner & Cooking Contest attracted approximately a dozen contestants, and first prize went to Sharon Roth. Overall, it turned out to be a nice weekend, with a few showers overnight on Friday. Temps were a little chilly, but it is October. Busy sports weekend, with the Yanks wrapping things up in Minn, while Boston fans had to be despondent over the Sunday outcomes of the Sox and Pats. Good news is that KG seems healthy for the Celts. Still two big upcoming Halloween Weekends, and HW #3 (this weekend) is always the busiest. Looks like it might be chilly again, especially Friday night.

Columbus Day Weekend at Strawberry Park

Looks like a pretty nice forecast for the upcoming holiday weekend, which for the last couple of years has ended up being a perfect fall weather weekend. Plenty going on here, with a bonfire on Sat night (Gopherbroke), a teen dance, a dance on Sunday night (after Karaoke--hopefully nothing like what happened at Bobby Valentine's Sports Bar in Stamford "6 women arraigned in attack on karaoke singer" (AP) Six young Connecticut women have been arraigned on assault charges accusing them of beating up another woman because they didn't like the way she was singing karaoke.) and 4 Bingo sessions. Also, we will have 2 ceramic sessions, our annual Pot Luck Dinner and the Bocce Tournament (trophies for top 3 teams). For any wine lovers, the first Preston vineyard/winery opens this weekend, located near Amos Lake, on the site of the former Pitch and Putt Par 3 Golf Course. Nice article in the NL Day on their big opening, with tastings and such happening all weekend. http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=ca4ea00a-57e0-45b2-beaf-803b15a402b2 Also, a nice time of year to go apple picking (Maple Lane is just 2 miles, while Holmberg Orchard is over the Ledyard border, about 15 minutes--we went with the boys yesterday and discovered Reed likes apples, but not the leaves).