THE LINE for numbers each day

[Cindy Lou]

It’s been done at RG for years the exact. Same. Way. It’s a non-issue. People are smart enough to get in line sequentially even when gaps exist. This is not the Planet’s first rodeo. No one wants to work harder than they have to, so getting #s handed out with sufficient time to line up is going to be a priority.

Right, but RG gives the numbers out at night, and there is only ONE line to get in. Most of the folks I have talked to about this will have a chair in line on the town side too. I remember when there was NO line, it's not my first rodeo either.

[Skubes]

So are you running the tarp this year? Just curious why this change upsets you so much if not.

[Cindy Lou]

So are you running the tarp this year? Just curious why this change upsets you so much if not.

I never said I was upset, I'm not one bit.  I'm just curious to see how it's going to all go down, and how the logistics of random numbers on the town park side will work. People have been asking me about it, so I"m just trying to get more information. Makes not one bit of difference to me, I always am right where I want to be. 
After 42 years I've seen a lot of changes and I still come back, so obviously they haven't made much difference to me. 

 Listening to: Billy Strings live! from DelFest.

[FaceOnMars]

Most of the folks I have talked to about this will have a chair in line on the town side too.

[Maple Al]

The new system doesn't seem to change the tarp run aspect of the morning line, us more aged festivarians will still need to find a young fast runner. I guess that the YouTube moments are still what rules. As far as sequencing I would think most of the earlier numbers would be used and the spaces between would be after the 100's. What is most affected by this change is the morning dynamics of town park. Instead of 150 folks dealing with getting numbers we now have 700 or more likely to have to try and get a good number. As for when it will happen in the morning I think it would start soon after the 7 am hour or just as fast as the Planet Bluegrass person in charge finds his Raiders hat and adjusts his kilt, and continues until the numbers are all gone. I suppose that some of the larger camps are going to be in both lines as some feel that they are entitled to their spot. But the biggest change is that more people will have to get up early rather than where they end up with their tarps.

 Listening to: Something Higher

[Cindy Lou]

The new system doesn't seem to change the tarp run aspect of the morning line, us more aged festivarians will still need to find a young fast runner. I guess that the YouTube moments are still what rules. As far as sequencing I would think most of the earlier numbers would be used and the spaces between would be after the 100's. What is most affected by this change is the morning dynamics of town park. Instead of 150 folks dealing with getting numbers we now have 700 or more likely to have to try and get a good number. As for when it will happen in the morning I think it would start soon after the 7 am hour or just as fast as the Planet Bluegrass person in charge finds his Raiders hat and adjusts his kilt, and continues until the numbers are all gone. I suppose that some of the larger camps are going to be in both lines as some feel that they are entitled to their spot. But the biggest change is that more people will have to get up early rather than where they end up with their tarps.

I agree Al, but if all the numbers are not handed out it will make the lining up at the gate more confusing for the runners.  I am not upset by it as someone seemed to think, just curious to see how it will be when the reality of it is upon us. Right now it is all still theory and speculation. And I totally agree that is should be done as soon after 7 as possible so folks can go back to camp and have a bit more time to get ready. It's pretty vague right now to say "between 7 and gates open" and make people wait until 8 or 8:30 or later to get a number as is currently posted, especially on the days when gates are at 9.

[wvkerry]

From my experience as a volunteer for the Town Park/Warner entrance gate, a camper in Town Park and Warner Field, a line sleeper, and a tarp runner .... the person handing out the numbers will determine the time based on when he/she can wake up, get dressed, get coffee, get to the gate, get the numbers, and start to hand them out.  The 'vagueness' is a simple statement of reality and "between 7 and when gates open" is a much narrower time frame than previous years. I am sure planet bluegrass will not make people wait until 8 or 8:30 or later to get a number if at all possible.

Thanks Planet Bluegrass !!! I am stoked for this change and welcome the attempt to make things run as smoothly as possible.  You all are amazing.

 

Kerry

[Cindy Lou]

From my experience as a volunteer for the Town Park/Warner entrance gate, a camper in Town Park and Warner Field, a line sleeper, and a tarp runner .... the person handing out the numbers will determine the time based on when he/she can wake up, get dressed, get coffee, get to the gate, get the numbers, and start to hand them out.  The 'vagueness' is a simple statement of reality and "between 7 and when gates open" is a much narrower time frame than previous years. I am sure planet bluegrass will not make people wait until 8 or 8:30 or later to get a number if at all possible.

In my experience they rarely showed up before 7, but camps who desired a number were already in line. Very rarely is the line SITTER (since sleeping was a no-no but often ignored, per your post) also the tarp runner, which meant the sitter could go back to camp and relax, eat, shower, and regroup while the next phase was handled by another camp member.  I know it is up to the number giver as to when they show up. I do wonder, now that the campers will have to be there by 7, even if the numbers person waits until 7:45, and there are say, 150 random numbers given out to folks congregated to receive them in the first 10 minutes, will the number giver stay there until 30 mins before gates open for people who show up 35 mins before gates, or will they decide that no one else wants one and then leave? If a camper gets a high number and someone else from that camp wants to go back 20-30 mins later and try for a lower one, will there still be a person there to give them out? These are just minor points to many, but it would be very nice to know ahead of time the logistics.  If they gave a specific cut off time, say 8:30 when gates are at 9, then that would eliminate the ambiguity and assure that anyone who wants a number will show up before the specified cut-off time and still receive a number. Not everyone will get in line at 7, since the numbers WILL be random and the chance of getting a low number at 8:25, assuming the number giver will still be there "until gates open" is theoretically just as good as showing up at 7 and waiting around until someone shows up.

 Listening to: crickets outside.

[jsrud]

... I do wonder, now that the campers will have to be there by 7, even if the numbers person waits until 7:45, and there are say, 150 random numbers given out to folks congregated to receive them in the first 10 minutes, will the number giver stay there until 30 mins before gates open for people who show up 35 mins before gates, or will they decide that no one else wants one and then leave? If a camper gets a high number and someone else from that camp wants to go back 20-30 mins later and try for a lower one, will there still be a person there to give them out? These are just minor points to many, but it would be very nice to know ahead of time the logistics.  If they gave a specific cut off time, say 8:30 when gates are at 9, then that would eliminate the ambiguity and assure that anyone who wants a number will show up before the specified cut-off time and still receive a number. Not everyone will get in line at 7, since the numbers WILL be random and the chance of getting a low number at 8:25, assuming the number giver will still be there "until gates open" is theoretically just as good as showing up at 7 and waiting around until someone shows up.

I am guessing Larry, our good friend in the kilt, will do a great job with all of this.  In the past, he has generally made an initial swing by the Volleyball pit to hand out numbers to those in line and then come back every 20 minutes or so to hand more out to those who came later.  My bet is we'll see something like that again.  I don't think PB is going to adopt a "hang around for as much as 2 hours until the numbers get handed out or you'll lose out" policy. 

 Listening to: Lucas Nelson

[BluegrassDustin]

Why you rabble-rousing, Cindy Lou? ;-)

Right, but RG gives the numbers out at night, and there is only ONE line to get in. Most of the folks I have talked to about this will have a chair in line on the town side too.

There's still only one line that this applies to: the Town Park/ Warner Field line. Nothing has changed about the GA/ Town side. If folks want to move to the town side so that they can stay in line overnight, more power to them.

Very rarely is the line SITTER (since sleeping was a no-no but often ignored, per your post)...

The no sleeping policy has always only applied to the town side of the line. Per city ordinance, the Town does not allow camping in town. i.e. sleeping on sidewalks, or in a line for a festival. That will remain true.

I do wonder, now that the campers will have to be there by 7, even if the numbers person waits until 7:45, and there are say, 150 random numbers given out to folks congregated to receive them in the first 10 minutes, will the number giver stay there until 30 mins before gates open for people who show up 35 mins before gates, or will they decide that no one else wants one and then leave? If a camper gets a high number and someone else from that camp wants to go back 20-30 mins later and try for a lower one, will there still be a person there to give them out? These are just minor points to many, but it would be very nice to know ahead of time the logistics.  If they gave a specific cut off time, say 8:30 when gates are at 9, then that would eliminate the ambiguity and assure that anyone who wants a number will show up before the specified cut-off time and still receive a number. Not everyone will get in line at 7, since the numbers WILL be random and the chance of getting a low number at 8:25, assuming the number giver will still be there "until gates open" is theoretically just as good as showing up at 7 and waiting around until someone shows up.

Once the numbers are given out, there will be no more numbers. If there are 10 people in line, we'll hand out 10 numbers and everyone else can line up after those 10 numbers. We will not sit there until all 750 numbers are given out. That simply doesn't make sense based on the random nature of the distribution, and as you point out, will only encourage people to come and get multiple numbers. The whole system doesn't work if that's the case. I don't anticipate this being an issue.

It’s been done at RG for years (in a very similar) way. People are smart enough to get in line sequentially even when gaps exist. No one wants to work harder than they have to, so getting #s handed out with sufficient time to line up is going to be a priority.

Bonus fact: We plan to have a Southwest Airlines style signs posted to help "guide" folks towards where to start lining up based on their numbers. (1 - 100 here, 101 - 200 here, etc...)
That should alleviate some of the concern posted here about how the line will "fill in" with so many random numbers. To be fair, that will likely take a little trial and error for the first few run throughs, but after a couple of runs we should be able to dial in a pretty good approximation.



There undoubtedly will be a few growing pains, change can be hard and confusing, but if we all play nicely we'll get this dialed in quickly and for the better.


See you soon.



D.

[Pass Port]

The week goes by fast enough. This gives us all more time with friends, who we often only see here, and listening to great music! So glad we wont have to spend 4-5 nights holding "our" position in line. A big thanks and  to the Planet for making the change! Thanks for the clarification Dustin!   

[AnythingAtAll]

The week goes by fast enough. This gives us all more time with friends, who we often only see here, and listening to great music! So glad we wont have to spend 4-5 nights holding "our" position in line. A big thanks and  to the Planet for making the change! Thanks for the clarification Dustin!   

Agreed, this is welcome news.  I can change my sig to something more random now, yeah!

[Bevin]

I'm probably gonna go out and sleep in the non-line by the volleyball court for a couple nights anyway.   It's a good sleepin' spot and often way quieter than the campground.

How about some "Southwest Airlines" style signs that lead from Run-A-Muck to the volleyball court that say:

"If Run-a-Muck is too loud then you're too old but just sleep here -->"

[BuckeyeDog]

So if I am physically able to still get up and walk at 7 AM, I will just saunter over and get a number. And since I don't run, if it is a low number we'll just give it to someone who wants to run. But with the size of the tarps these days, the first 200 people will take 50% of the real estate anyway. It really makes no difference if you have a tarp or not for the most part, since we've been coming for 30 years and no one has ever asked us to leave, especially if we come with a few extra malt beverages. But you know what the best part is about not bringing a tarp? You don't have to carry it back out, especially if it rains (or snows). If you ever hang around for a while on the field after the last show on Sunday, there are usually dozens of abandoned tarps just lying around. I think PB may even collect them and donate them, but I could be wrong. 

[Cindy Lou]

THANK YOU DUSTIN!     That is what I wanted to read, thank you very much. Now I can pass this on the many who have been asking me all these questions but are not on the forum or who don't read the threads before asking questions.  I did not know that about the no sleeping applied only to the town side, but it does make a lot more sense now. And I like the idea of the AA lines, and that sure don't mean Friends of Bill W.    See ya there!

 Listening to: I Feel Like a Number, Bob Seeger