“Here comes the rain again…falling on my head like a memory…” These are just some lyrics for a favorite song of mine from the 80s. Well, I don’t know about you, but last week I had just about enough of the rain. For nearly my entire working career, save my very first job out of college, I have been involved on some level in planning outdoor events. Let me tell you that doing so is one of the most frustrating experiences one can have.

By nature, I am a planner, and I like to think a very good one, but as we all well know, we cannot control the weather (nor would we want that job either…best to leave controlling the weather to the One and Only professional capable to handle it). As the old saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. In other words, whatever can happen, likely will happen. The only thing you can do is have a contingency plan and do the best you can from that point forward. Last week in just the span of a few days, the Chamber had to cancel, postpone or modify events. First, we had to cancel our Mini-Golf League on Tuesday night. The weather tried to tease us all day by raining off and on, but I went ahead and called mini-golf off because our folks needed to be able to make plans. In the end, that was the right call to make. I’m relieved to say the Fall Mini-Golf League is back on schedule this week.

We had also planned an awesome Business After Hours on Thursday night on The Front Porch of Norton’s at the Lake. We wanted to hang out both inside the restaurant and on The Front Porch, tasting Norton’s new menu, which just launched yesterday and is ABSOLUTELY phenomenal by the way (try the Aloha Chicken Sandwich), and singing/watching some karaoke, but that darned rain just would not turn loose. The Nortons decided to push ahead anyway, like the great hosts they are, making necessary modifications to the event, and we ended up having a nice turnout inside the restaurant and did get to be the first to try the fabulous new menu.

Well, our second largest annual fundraiser, our golf tournament, was also scheduled for last Friday. We were going for broke this year with more teams than ever before. However, trying to give as much planning time as possible, when I kept looking at The Weather Channel forecast on Tuesday, and Friday’s weather just kept getting worse and worse, we made the decision to postpone our tournament to our pre-established rain date of this Friday. Based on the weather we received, it was certainly the best choice to make, but in so doing, we also lost teams.

I felt badly for the Lake Gaston Lion’s Club. There had been so much rain that even if Saturday had turned out to be completely dry, and as we know, it did not, there was no way they could get the trucks of seafood onto the event grounds or safely park the cars of attendees for their annual Seafood Festival. The Lions, too, had to punt and reschedule for this Saturday, October 10, the first time the event has ever been rescheduled. There are some people who cannot attend this weekend. Plans are in place to fairly handle those who cannot attend. Again, it was a difficult decision for the Lions, but they did the best they could.

I love the outdoors, and I love outdoor events, but for those of us who spend time planning outdoor events, there are just certain things that are out of our control. For those things, I spend a lot of time praying. I’ve already started praying for our Lake Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce Brunswick Stew Sale that will take place on Saturday, October 31. I hope the only thing brewing is stew, not storms.