Looking back on a really successful dry stone festival this year I am reminded of what a great job everyone did. The musicians the people who prepared all the food, the wallers, all the people who opened up their homes to our guests from other countries, our presenters, the people who ran the booths and the staff at Landon Bay Park all did a spectacular job.
The person who I would most like to thank is my wonderful wife who spent hours and hours and days and days coordinating and planning, answering emails getting people involved and keeping things on track so that this festival could happen. She was not only a constant encouragement but a beacon of wisdom when it came to figuring out all the tiny details of running something as huge as a four day international event involving hundreds of people. I would have forgotten a lot of things leading up to Rocktoberfest if it were not for her. And then even during the festival she covered so many areas I couldn't have seen to.
I had the fun overseeing the building of Kay's Bridge, the main event of the festival. I could not be many other places. Mary covered all the other bases and was the glue that kept things together. Actually I think she created another bridge, a kind of connectivity between so many of our friends and participants and new acquaintances so that they all felt at home while they were with us at Landon Park. Through her they became a part of the greater DSWAC family.
Anyway, I don't know what I would have done without her. I have jokingly said in the past, to anyone who asked me why we always run this event on the Canada Thanksgiving holiday, that Rocktoberfest is held that weekend to dissuade those who put family before dry stone walling. That's not really true, and as on every other year, I was happy to have my wife along side me again this year at the festival, and pleased that family and dry stone walling don't have to be mutually exclusive .
