Not exactly a storm, but still bothersome

Last week, we had our most recent band concert.
Since this was our summer concert, it's traditionally held outdoors, at Stocks Park in Hillsdale.
Here's the post I did about last year's concert (complete with pictures!)
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Now, it's worth noting that only about half of our "outdoor" concerts have actually been held outside. That's because it tends to rain on our summer concert day. Quite often, we've had to move the event indoors.
This year, things started out looking beautiful. We showed up for the pre-concert rehearsal, got set up, and started playing. The sun was out, the sky was clear, and the air was warm.
We started rehearsing.

The sky got dark all of a sudden.
Then the rain began.
And it really poured.

We moved into a tent nearby for shelter. Since I happened to park right next to the tent, I got in my car instead.
After a few minutes, the rain stopped, and we ventured back out to our seats again.
We wiped off our chairs and stands, and got ready to play again.

Then.... yes... the rain started coming down again.
And it really poured.

Again we moved back into the tent, and I got in my car.
After a few more minutes, the rain stopped again.
We went back out to our seats, wiped off the seats and the stands....
Got ready to play again....
And...
Yes.

The rain started for a third time.
And it really poured.

Yet again, we moved to the tent (and me in the car).
After a few more minutes, the rain stopped again.
And we went back out....
And finally we were able to do our concert.

All our rehearsal time had been used up, though, so we had to just start playing the actual concert.
Believe it or not, there were still people ready to listen to us. There were at least 150 people gathered in the park, our loyal followers, who had sat there in the rain waiting patiently.

The reason we couldn't just move to an alternate location is because the percussion instruments would have taken too much time to transport. (Bass drum, Tympani, Pitched mallet instruments, Snares, etc). Plus we would have had to transport all the music stands and all OUR instruments and our music. Not enough time on short notice.

The reason we couldn't just play in the rain is because it would harm some of the instruments, like the woodwinds. Plus, it'd gather in the bells of the brass instruments with upward-pointed bells, like the tuba and the baritone/euphonium.

Really, by Michigan standards, this does NOT qualify as a real "storm", but if it had happened in California, there would have been "STORM WARNING" plastered all over the news, so there ya go. :) They call any kind of rain a "storm", I guess.
Here in Michigan, a "storm" generally includes thunder and lightning and high winds and rain and sometimes a bit of hail.

Thank goodness we didn't have THAT at the concert.
The tympani would never have been the same. :)
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