Trust and the Circle Guys

I always DREAD going to this craft show.....Arts in the Park in Richmond, VA. The first one of the season, getting my whole act together and in gear. I get in a funk for days beforehand. It's far. There's so much stuff to bring. The weather is so uncertain. Will people come out and buy. And the set-up is such a pain. But year after year I keep going back to this show. And every year, once I'm there, I always wonder why I got in such a twist over it. The anticipation is so much worse than the reality of the hardship of this show. In fact, I always leave feeling really happy because it's so neat. But I couldn't go, really, if it weren't for the Parking Guys. They are what makes going to Richmond possible.


The least favorite part of my pottery business is the set-up at a show. Jockeying the van into a good parking spot with other huge vehicles, getting close enough to the booth and then unloading, schlepping the stuff to #179 and then putting it all together, all that puts a certain amount of dread into my thinking. Getting into parking position is the number one anxiety. About half-way to Richmond, though, I remembered the Parking Guys, and whew! the day becomes instantly easier.

When I get to Richmond I remember all the reasons that I keep coming back. It's actually a wonderful show in a wonderful grand old park....Byrd Park....filled with huge hundred-year-old oak trees. There's a beautiful football-field-length, semi-sunken lawn that's boardered by rows of dogwoods....Dogwood Dell.... that's capped at the end by a towering Carillion. It's a truly lovely park. I used to live in Richmond not far from this park and the drive down Boulevard past all the statues of confederate generals is a real nostalgic blast from the past.....Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart and all the others.

There are actually many reasons I like coming to this show.....how can I forget these things in the week before when I'm in such a funk? I love seeing and catching up with the group of friends that I stay with and see once a year. Saturday night there's a pot-luck get-together and sometimes the slide projector is brought out and we can see ourselves when we all had long hair, short-shorts and huge glasses.....and our kids were babies. Oh my! And it's great fun trading stuff with friends and show neighbors. So much batik from my friend Sharon....and the wacky jewelry from Chris Pool. She's so funky....her mobiles, pins,earrings, and drawer pulls are funky....and so fun.

One of the very best parts of Arts in the Park is watching the community that puts this show on. Byrd Park is across the street from an older established neighborhood in Richmond and they've formed the Carillion Association to raise money for upkeep of the park and preservation of the carillion. I would say there must be 50 to 100 neighborhood volunteers making this show a reality. The person in charge is one Mrs. R. S. Lovelace, III. I don't know her name other than that, but she must be formidable to organize such a huge undertaking....471 artists and craftspeople in the park this year. These volunteers do all kinds of things.....the three black women that always hand out packets of info in my area are soooo friendly and having so much fun, that I want to be them when I grow up. There are women manning the check-in table and men and women over on Mrs. R. S. Lovelace, III's patio fixing coffee and giving out doughnuts each morning. (you have to eat the doughnut....it's a tradition). There are people who've laid out the booth spaces and people who clean up afterwards.

The people who make my day, though, are the Parking Guys. Parking Guys are in the artist parking lot preventing chaos. Parking guys guide the attendees to spots in the fields. These are all just neighborhood men. But the best and most truly amazing Parking Guys are on the Circle. The grass-covered Circle is probably 40 feet in diameter with a tight little road that surrounds it. About 200-300 artists unload and load their vans off this circle and if it weren't for the Parking Guys, it would be pure pandemonium. The main Parking Guy....an older, jokey but stern black man....has been in charge of the Circle for as long as I can remember....and I've been doing this show off and on since 1997 as near as I can figure. He now has two proteges....another older black man, sweet man....and a younger easy-going white man in his mid-forties. They rule the Circle. And they are SO good!

In order to both park these trucks and vans and also be able to get by the parked vehicles, you need to back in diagonally .....just so. Of course, the trick is to get in tight, so more vans can be there, get in without crashing into another vehicle and get in without scraping your tires or getting stuck against the curb on the inside of the circle. Oh, it is SO daunting!! But the Parking Guys are SO good! Their mantra is to look at them, look at them.... not behind you ...where you're going, look at them. I can't look anyway, it's too scary. And they ask you to just trust them. Oh yes, oh hallelujiah, it works! These guys have you turning your wheel in directions you don't think you should be going. And when you're holding your breath, sure you're going to crash into your neighbor's left headlight, you're missing by an inch. It is so tight, but they make every vehicle get in just right, threaded in without a mishap. It's an amazing thing to watch.

You can always tell when someone new to the show is being parked by the Parking Guys. The Main Guy is yelling at them, "Look at ME!, Look at ME!!! LOOK AT ME!!!" "Trust me, Trust me!" Later in the day, the regulars sort of casually sidle up to the new folks and just mention, "those Parking Guys are very good....they're amazing in fact. You gotta trust them." The new people will learn soon enough about the value of the Parking Guys.

When I was packing up on Sunday, I'd once again been threaded into my spot and was putting all the stuff in the van. This young man....late teens or early twenties... was helping a woman who I assumed was his mom, load up her truck. We both stopped for a minute to watch the Parking Guys guide another vehicle into place and then we looked at each other and I said something like, "they're amazing". The young man replied, "I've been coming to this show since I was a baby and I always remember them being here doing this. Amazing." Later I mentioned what a nice young man this was to the woman I thought was his mother, but she said, oh no, he lived in the house where they gave out the coffee and doughnuts. Oh my!! This must be Mrs. R. S. Lovelace, III's son! This might even be R. S. Lovelace, IV! In any event, as R. S., IV was finishing up with packing the truck, the Main Parking Guy said to him, "You know, I think you might soon be ready to graduate to CIRCLE GUY". Of course. CIRCLE GUYS. These were not just ordinary Parking Guys! These were the Elite of the Parking Guys. These guys, the ones who make my attendance at this show possible, they definitely deserve the Most Distinguished Honor of being the Most Highly Regarded CIRCLE GUYS. They're the BEST! And I trust them completely.