The 10th annual ‘Steam in the Park’ was staged again at the Balado Park near Kinross over the weekend of 9th & 10th May. The usual suspects arrived on Thursday night in preparation to setting up the site first thing on Friday morning.
In the morning, it was pouring down. Not to be put off or simply being stupid, we all donned our wet gear and set off for the new addition to the society, the container. Sergeant Major Mair or Chairman to some instructed that come Sunday night, ‘items must be put back in their rightful places or heads will roll’. We all had our jobs to do and off we went. After a wee sundance things brightened up after lunch and the site was ready for the influx of stallholders and exhibitors waiting on the runway.
The best place to watch everyone coming in on Friday night would be the beer tent. 24 full size engines turned out and 20 miniatures too. With the predicted weather, this was an excellent number. Overall 483 exhibits crammed onto the rally field which included a rack saw bench provided by Alex Steele powered by his own Fowler A4 Traction engine ‘Sandy’. Unfortunately the wee sundance on Friday didn’t extend to the Saturday but the diehard enthusiasts still turned up. Credit must also be given to the engine owners who steamed their engines and still managed to provide a footplate experience for the public. After all the rain over the last 2 days, the only part of the park that caused concerns were in the car park and that was kept to a wee section near the main entrance.
Those involved in managing other rallies must feel a wee bit jealous of the site we have at Balado because on Sunday morning we were all woken by the sun rays beating down. Nobody could believe that there was no wear & tear and the rest of the exhibitors were able to park up in the grass without any problems. Even the car park looked fresh, okay not the wee bit next to the main enterance but the site owner claims that after a few times over this with the roller and would be looking brand new. The chainsaw laddie turned up again and gave an excellent show of wood carving. Near every engine owner was available and willing to show their engines off to the public via the footplate experience. Certainly the gate was very busy and another working lunch was had. In 2 ways we were glad that the heavy rain started late in the afternoon. One was a full days fun was had by the public and exhibitors alike, two the site emptied pretty quick which allowed us to return everything to the container.
Was it a good weekend business wise? Well, the sun on Sunday was a welcome break and probably allowed a rally to be held next year. Was it a good weekend promotion wise? It certainly was. The public stood patiently listening to the engine owners giving the history of their engines and how it works, even kids seen real coal. The followers of steam enthusiasts had the trade stalls to rummage through and the kids had Walters’s rides to keeps them amused.
As you’ve probably noticed I haven’t listed the steam engine entrants. First I didn’t want to upset all the other 439 other entrants. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn when I say on behalf of the Society, thank you all for attending and hope to see you all again next year.