Through my eyes: First Riverbend concert of the season made memorable

There’s something magical about rain.

Some of my most fond memories have only stuck with me because of the rainy weather that accompanied them.

My freshman year of college, I worked at a summer camp, and took a group of 12 year-old girls on a four-night kayak trip. It rained until our last day. The rain took us off course to a crowded campground, where one of the tents flooded. The next day, I got us lost, and with wind and rain we found a spot on land, pitched our tents and sheltered. The other counselor and I gave our dry sleeping bags to the girls, whose bags had gotten wet, and I remember sitting in a soaked sleeping bag, in an equally wet tent just laughing at the predicament we had gotten ourselves into, while we waited for dry sleeping bags to arrive from camp.

It was the most memorable event of the entire summer.

Last week as the rain kept falling and falling I wondered what that would mean for the first concert of the 32nd annual Riverbend series.

The early part of Sunday looked promising, but the closer it got to show time, the more ominous the sky looked. And of course, by 7 p.m. it was pouring.

Andre Floyd kicked off the Riverbend Concert series on his 60th birthday, and though the rain was coming down, a small crowd of people still paid their $3 and nestled down in Sliter Park under blankets and umbrellas.

A few songs in, someone made the suggestion to turn the concert around. The audience filed onto the stage, made themselves comfortable, and Andre and fellow musician David Griffith turned around.

It wasn’t what I was expecting from the Riverbend series. I thought rain would either cancel the show, or bring it indoors. I should have known that rain would continue its trend in my life of making memories.

With that switch the outdoor concert took on a new intimacy. It felt like rather than being in Sliter Park to hear Floyd play, he was there to play just for you.

It couldn’t have been more memorable. How often do you get to sit on stage at a concert?

I sat on the edge of the stage and listened to Andre’s music fill up the stage and drift out into the wet air.

It was a unique way to enjoy summer music. Eventually the rain stopped, and you could hear birds chirping out songs of their own. But the music lovers who had turned out for the show stayed comfortably on the stage, enjoying the unique experience brought by the rain.