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Maine Veterans For Peace
YIKES!!! Richard and Bob unloaded all of the materials to assemble the VFP booth for the three day event. The two were greeted by the 4 tables Tom Sturtevant had left there two days prior. Bob drove off the fair grounds at 8:28. TWO whole minutes to spare. While Bob & Richard were setting up & organizing the booth, Tom arrived (in shorts!!!) with the fabulous original oil painting of Major General Smedley Butler, created by VFP’s own Rob Shetterly. The VFP booth has five sections. Section #1 focused on the NO BASES campaign replete with an impressive 3’x 5’ world map onto which Tom, Dan & Bob had placed pins indicating the locations of the THOUSANDS of U.S. bases around the world. This was accompanied by related materials for the fair goers to pick up & peruse at their leisure. Section #2 focused on CONVERSION of military bases and production to civilian production and featured several articles detailing the economic and social benefits of conversion. Section #3—Rob Shetterly’s amazing portrait of Smedley Butler was the focal point in this section, drawing many people to the booth. We also featured a selection of note cards created by Rob from the paintings in his series “Americans Who Tell the Truth”. Many visitors purchased the cards, took materials and chatted with VFP members. Section #4 focused on COUNTER RECRUITING and featured a number of brochures with information from the American Friends Services Committee. Section #5 was made up of VFP merchandise, including the new, and highly sought after, bumper sticker that depicts the word AFGANISTAN overlaid on the word Vietnam. This bumper sticker was designed by a friend of the chapter who stands in the Augusta Circle Peace Vigils with Richard. We also had our usual assortment of bumper stickers, buttons, lapel pins, VFP dog tags and VFP window stickers. A new addition this year was Chris Hedge’s book War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning that we are selling for $5 per copy. Friday mid morning Michael Uhl arrived for his three hour stint at the table. He, too, was attired in shorts! Egads!!! What are Tom & Michael thinking! The wind was blowing so hard we had rocks on top of the cards and used the plexiglas weights to hold the printed materials in place. Extra duct tape was needed to hold the easel which held the map in position, as well. The sand bags provided weight to stabilize Richard and Bob. —oops!!! Also the tripod. Bob & Richard finished out the day talking with lots of people. There were fewer students as many schools opted not to send students to the fair this year due to the Equine Encephalitis outbreak zone in Unity. Trust us! NO self respecting mosquito was out on this day! Way too windy and cold for them. They (Bob & Richard—not the mosquitoes) covered all the materials and left for the ride home. Saturday morning Bob & Dan Ellis arrived—without getting lost—at 8:00 a.m. to uncover tables, refresh the displays & prepare for the onslaught of interested fair attendees. The weather cooperated — much warmer & less windy. No need for rocks to hold down items (or sand bags to stabilize Bob & Dan) at least until later in the day. We had some good help this day. Rob Pfeiffer bicycled in from Union (50 miles) and spent three hours manning the booth. He left about 2:00 for his return trip. Herb Hoffman stopped by and lent a hand. Dud Hendrick spent most of the afternoon assisting. Bruce Gagnon collected signatures from folks opposing the placement of a Drone testing facility at the soon to be closed Brunswick Naval Air Station. Dud & Bruce presented and led a discussion on “No Bases” and “Conversion” themes at the Social Issues tent from 4 to 5 pm. They had an overflow crowd! At 6:00 Dan, Dud and Bob closed up the booth, taking Smedley down & putting him in his protective box for the night—as wind and rain were forecast. It was a very good day at the fair—lots of conversations, distribution of good info and many VFP items sold, as well as the “Americans Who Tell The Truth” note cards. The tired duo of Bob & Dan arrive back in Brunswick at 8:30 or so. We wondered . . . How does Dud manage all these long trips from Deer Isle for our Peace Events. Perhaps the Prius cars have People Re-energizers in them as well as battery charging capability!!! Sunday morning—another drive from Freeport. (Does that distance actually increase each day??? ) The skies are gray and it feels cold. Bob arrived at 8:00 a.m. & unloaded two folding chairs—one for himself and one for Victor. Bob’s legs and feet were getting quite tired from standing ALL of the last two days! Bob’s been working out at Planet Fitness, the gym, but decided he may need to do more on lower body if he’s going to be standing from 8 til 6:30 for 3 days!! The day was blustery with sporadic rain. Large crowds were not in evidence, however an intermittent stream of hardy folks kept Bob company and purchased items. A fair attendee from Ohio bought a full selection of the “Americans Who Tell the Truth” cards we offered at the booth. People travel great distances and spend a lot of travel time to get to this spectacular fair. Bob’s doctor traveled from Freeport, testing his new GPS system. It only took him two hours longer than it should have to arrive! Bob & Richard got lost that first day WITHOUT a GPS! Having spent the entire day manning the booth alone, Bob was delighted when Tom Sturtevant arrived at 4 pm or so to help and to break down the booth at day’s end. Bob learned that Victor was not feeling well enough to be at the booth. At 4:30 the last Chris Hedge’s book was distributed. At 5, Tom & Bob broke down the booth and waited for the signal to bring vehicles onto the fairgrounds. That came at about 6:15. Tom & Bob went to their respective vehicles. Tom was parked right outside the entrance—lucky him! And Bob was in the lot across the way (for early bird vendors). There were WAY TOO MANY other vendors waiting to drive their vehicles in to pack up their stuff. A trip from “across the street” took over 1/2 hour. Bob & Tom got everything loaded and began their respective journeys home. Bob played the EAGLES pretty loud most of the way home and rode with the window down. This was the assist needed for a very tired driver navigating through the pouring rain and fog. Many thanks to all who helped with this year’s fair. We trust many more will assist at all stages of planning, preparing and person-ing (the gender neutral term to encourage female representation) for the Common Ground Fair Event next year. Bob has stated that he is “Faired Out”. There are some good pictures that were taken at the CGF so you can see what the booth looked like and see some of the hardy VFP souls assisting fair goers. As a reminder.. We need to reserve a DOUBLE BOOTH for 2010. Peace and Health Bob |
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