RRfest

RRfest

40th annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts

July 13-16,2006

Know your Art's Festers

Rob	Matt	Chris F	Chris K	Gerry	Brian
Kevin	Jessi	Josh	Shelley	Nick	Duck
Chrysi	Bethers	Kelly	Rich	Caitlyn	Haley

For my bachelor party, the choice of when and where was easy. While many love the drawing of neon lights and slot machines, my happy place is Happy Valley. Art's Fest is undoubtedly the best summer holiday. I haven't missed one since 1999. Our story begins on Thursday night.

Team CT Thursday

"Yuengs and wings"

Team CT arrived in Happy Valley at 2100 hrs after a very easy 5-hour commute to begin the 40th annual Art's Fest weekend. After checking in to Days Inn Penn State and picking up our commemorative Art's Fest buttons, Team CT set the weekend in motion with a stop at the Darkhorse for Yuengs and wings. We had to go in the back door, since 2 of Chris F's roommates had fallen down the stairs in weeks previous. Bad things happen in 3's, so he was worried about taking a header down the front stairs. Once inside, the Pazzo's wings were so good that I scarfed down 2 dozen. As I often say, "You have to build a good foundation before you can build a house."

Next, we headed to Memorial Field to see the Poverty Neck Hillbillies play a few songs. Matt and Kevin were already there. The Hillbillies played fan favorites like "Hillbilly way","Mr. Right Now", and a good cover of "Devil Went Down to Georgia." After the encore, we moved to Bar Blue. Since the Crowbar is still closed (moment of silence please), Giants of Science were playing unplugged in the basement. Lager was flowing like wine and plenty of Jager and car bombs were had. We also managed to get of the best spy pics I've ever seen before calling it a night in the wee hours.

Without a doubt, this is the most drinking I've ever done on a Thursday night. It was definitely a sign of good things to come.

Alumni Reunion Friday

"Spray her in the face"

After a great first night of drinking, the troops rallied early for a quick breakfast at Irving’s before swarming at the Café.

We anchored firmly in the middle of the Café patio at 1100 hrs and were joined by Jessi. It got a tad warm, so Brian made a trip to CVS to pick up one of those sprayer fans. Our waitress, Stevie, kept asking to be sprayed. Soon, the other waitresses on the patio were making frequent rounds of our table. Our mark was left for next time. We got a deck of cards and started playing Kings. Many other drinkers joined us, such as, Katie, Courtney, Dale and Christy. We downed 30 pitchers of Lager between 7 of us and a few famous Cafe Tea’s for good measure.

Our obligatory lap around to see some art and get some culture was cut short when the exhibitors closed up shop. The carnival food was great. I got a Gyro. Gerry got a turkey leg and we all split a funnel cake, and a bowl of pierogies drowned in butter and onions. We made it through about half of the art before pictures at the sand sculpture. We then headed for Creamery Ice Cream at the Creamery Annex by the obelisk.

I'm not sure exactly why we cleaned up before going out for the evening. The Saloon was overcrowded and hot as usual for Art's Fest. In addition to the normal hazards of the Saloon, there were several pools of very dirty water on the floor. It was a disgusting cesspool. Luckily, Velveeta came on soon with their wonderful blend of 80's classics. We were all dancing around and singing. I had to lecture some kid in flip-flops who was standing next to a broken pint glass. We were joined by Bethers and Chrysi during the 2nd set. Kelly was daring enough to let me give her a THA tattoo with the Sharpie.

After 2 sets, we'd had enough of the heat and the crowd and headed out for pizza. I think we ended up at College Pizza, since everywhere was packed.

Dirty Alumni Saturday

"Ok, who invited the Rednecks?"

Saturday was the culmination of the entire Art's Fest weekend.

We started the day at the Diner. Breakfast was possibly the slowest I’ve ever had. We were seated quickly, but it took 30 minutes to even get a menu. It took 2 hours to get out of there. We should have just gone to Sheetz or Irving's.

After breakfast, we headed off to Scotia gun range for target and skeet shooting. It took two stops to pick up clays and extra ammo. The weather wasn't looking great. It actually rained for about 15 minutes but it wasn't bad Because of hunter's safety classes, we set up on the overflow range. We had and fired everything from a 22 semi-autos, .40cal handguns, to an AK-47 and a bunch of SKS assault rifles. After annihilating the targets and backstops, we moved over to the shot gun range. Everyone had a good time shooting clays with a 20 gauge pump and 12 gauge semi-automatic, but overall we missed more than we actually hit.

While everyone was getting cleaned up for the evening, we took turns at Mad Mex hanging out with other friends. Kelly had even managed to scrub off her THA "tattoo" from yesterday. After a few quick margaritas, shots of Petron, and ice cold Lagers, it was time to head to dinner.

Official Stats

4	days
30	pitchers of Lager
300	shot gun shells
350	.22 rounds
100	7.62 x 39 mm rounds
1	guy snoring like a pack of rabid wolverines
0	gun injuries
0	persons arrested
0	persons falling down the stairs
0	broken glass injuries
0	men left behind
1	hell of a good time

One of the biggest surprises of Art's Fest was that the Boalsberg steak house had become Kelly's Steak and Seafood. The local dark and dingy steakhouse is now a restaurant could have been transplanted straight from Mystic, CT. Don't worry; the huge cow was still on the roof. We had a few drinks at the bar, with inlaid with sea shells and starfish. We had an awesome table outside near the tiki bar. In the spirit of RRfest, our waitress even had a camo skirt. The Chris's gave Duck a hard time for ordering a French merlot. We enjoyed everything from salmon to steak. It was all fantastic. There were quite a few pictures of the waitress hanging on me and of me telling the troops that we were ready to "Ramp it up!"

From Kelly's, we headed to the End Zone. I won't say much, but it was an awesome time. Jessi and Shelley even came with us. Everyone enjoyed the 2-story poles and the free beer patio. We stayed long enough to close down the patio.

After getting back, we made a quick evening nacho run to Grillers. And before passing out on the floor like a bunch of savages, we managed to nearly kill off a 1/5th of vodka. Some people choose to do more, and we like to encourage that.

GTFOH Sunday

"You should get married more often"

After checking out of our hamster cage, we headed to Sheetz for our ritual GTFOH breakfast tailgate. Who doesn't enjoy a shimiscuit, shmeagel or shmuffin for breakfast? After grabbing some beef jerky for the road, it was time to go.

It was hard to say good bye, since we had such a blast. This had to be the best Art's Fest to date. I'm so glad everyone came out, and want to thank everyone once again for Gittin'-RR-Done.

A special thanks to Matt M and Chris F for putting the planning together and making the RRfest cards. Thanks to Matt M, Kevin, Rich and Chris F for bringing out the firearms.

For the Glory,
-Rob

Downloads

RRfest cards click to enlarge

Download the RRfest flier RRfest.doc 581 kb

Thursday:

• Yuengs and Wings at the Darkhorse
• PovertyNeck Hillbillies 9:00 p.m.; Memorial Field
• Giants of Science unplugged at Bar Blue

Friday:

• Breakfast (waffle shop downtown)
• Get some drinks (Cafe 210)
• Obligatory lap around to see some art and get some culture, stop for Creamery Ice Cream at the Creamery Annex by the obelisk, get some carny food,
• Boalsberg steak house for dinner (with huge cow on the roof)
• Clean up and head out for the evening: Saloon for Velveeta
• 2:00am Saturday, quick stop for pizza

Saturday:

• Dirty Alumni breakfast (The Diner)
• Quick ammo run (all we need now is tobacco for the full ATF combo. LOL)
• Head to the gun range (don’t forget your camouflage)
• V&S for cheese steaks and pierogies
• Get some drinks (location TBA)
• Dinner (location TBA)
• Evening entertainment at the end zone
• Get some more drinks (location TBA)
• With our last dollar, get some nachos

Sunday:

Lodging

We're staying at the Days Inn Penn State on Pugh St (just above Mad Mex and very close to Canyon Pizza). I have 1 room for Thursday night (for early arriving Team CT) and 2 rooms for Friday and Saturday.

Since I had to pay for these up front and they weren't cheap, I would appreciate a hand dividing this cost. If you do, you've got a guaranteed spot and the 1st to pay me and who is driving will get the other parking pass that come with the rooms (#1 goes to whoever is driving from Team CT, otherwise you have to pay to park in a garage or park at Walmart and catch the bus in)

Tentative rates are as follows: Thursday night $28, Friday and Saturday $70 If the amount of people staying changes, I will give you money back or let you know how much more you owe.

You can get the money to me in several ways:

In person: I'm working 2nd shift and am in after 1430 hrs Monday-Saturday
Paypal: here's how http://dieseltailgate.com/paypal.html
Mail: email for address.

paid so far

• Jessi 2 nights
• Gerry 3 nights
• Chris F 3 nights
• Duck a whole lots, but coming Saturday
• Nick B 3 nights
• Josh 2 nights
• Brian 3 nights

Diesel Tailgate: Get Big! ^TM