Fourth on Broadway

I went to the Fourth on Broadway https://www.broadwayfestivals.com/ event this year.  This is a long running (27 years) festival that used to be held entirely on Broadway, but a few years ago, it was moved so that the parade heads to the East side of Avenue A down Broadway and into Mackenzie Park, where the evening concert and fireworks show is held.  This is really better because the festival, in large part is on grass, and there is a lot of shade. I paid for parking on the hill this year, and that includes a free shuttle to and from the parking lot, except during the parade.  I took the shuttle back to the parking lot.

I sat at the top of the hill, in the sun, during the parade, because I wanted to put my folding chair back in the car before I went to the festival for the music.  I walked down the hill with so many other festival goers.  There is a bridge at this end of the park, and when it rains, the bridge floods.  We have had many evenings of night storms, and the bridge was flooded.  The city had large pumps, with large hoses emptying out the lake into the spillway on the other side of the bridge, but it was possible to walk through the several inches (3-4) of water to get into the park.  There were grassy areas of the festival that were flooded and muddy.  

I was disappointed today when I reached the music venue I wanted to enjoy.  It was not under a tent, in the shade as it used to be, but for some reason, it was parked under a tree in the shade, and the audience chairs were in the sun.  I sat through the first set, performed by the Lubbock Jazz Band, in the sun.  But before the Westwinds Brass Band started playing, I moved across the street to  the shade, as had many others.  It set up a strange situation:  The band was on one side of the street, the audience on the other. But the audience was appreciative, and the band could tell!