This is shaping up to be one of the strongest El Niño winters on record, and if you're planning any kind of outdoor event in the next several months, that's not a fun fact. That's a logistics problem.
I put together an El Niño shopping list so you don't have to. You can thank me later.
A few notes on what made the cut and why.
The canopy and the sandbags go together. Stakes are optimistic. A strong gust will take a poorly weighted tent down in seconds, so get real weights, not decorative ones.
The tarp is doing more work than it looks like. Tables, equipment, boxes of supplies, anything you don't want sitting directly in a puddle. Cheap, unglamorous, essential.
Ponchos and umbrellas are the obvious ones, and yet people forget them all the time. I for one am notorious for leaving my umbrella all over town, so it's a real gift to arrive at an event and find they've got just the thing to keep you from turning into a soggy mess.
The waterproofing tape is for anything and everything that might decide to have a literal meltdown. If only this worked on people.
The storage bags are for anything electronic or paper that can't afford a bad afternoon. Phones, cash boxes, sign-up sheets. Ziploc energy, but industrial.
And the sign holders matter more than you'd think. The little wire stake kind tip over in real wind. Get something with actual weight to it, and get blank metal signs you can reuse next season instead of reprinting every time.
None of this is exciting. That's kind of the point. A little boring prep now means things don't get interesting in the worst of ways later, when the sky has other plans.
Full list HERE. Get ahead of it.
- LP
Prepared and Slightly Insufferable About It
