Rain, Dirt, Beer

Picture this: Thousands of drinkers, acres of outdoor space, a bunch of beer tents, and over 200 brands of beer… this is beerfest.
Now, picture rain, lots of it, coming down in torrents. Picture these same thousand drinkers decked out in ponchos, with umbrellas, or just completely soaked. Picture the green space now wet and sloppy, and dirt patches transformed into muddy pits. Picture the same amount of beer, drowning the rainy, sorrows of these drinkers, who are rammed into these tents, trudging through the mud, getting wetter, and filthier and drunker. This was beerfest.
For 6 hours, we partied in the wet and the beer, and made the best of the circumstances. At three we arrived and three thirty saw the commencement of (and my initiation into) the Hour of Power. One token buys you 4oz of beer, and must be consumed every 5 minutes for the full hour. Trapped in the Singha tent, it wasn’t how I would have envisioned it, but its completion set the tone for a day : one mindless of the rain, and focused on the beer. There was a lot of losing companions, frantic phone calls, sloppy trips to the port-o-pottys, awkward run-ins, fabulous reunifications, and beer.
The sun would have changed this event, would have diversified my beer selections throughout the day, would have kept me dry and warm and clean. But as it stands the wet and dirty didn’t turn out so bad at all.