One Rainy Friday in November
Let’s set the scene - it is 3AM, on a very rainy Friday in November of 2019. This was our last setup day, and everyone was done & out except for me (Ian), Rudy & Lilly - the Robot Ruckus setup was finally done, and we were headed out. I stopped to tell the overnight security that we were leaving, then we headed into the crew office to lock up. We chatted for a few minutes, and then Rudy & Lilly left. I looked around and realized the Crew Office was a disaster - because of the rain, many items still needed to be distributed to the other buildings, but they were scattered around the room. I decided to spend another 30 minutes cleaning so the team could grab & go for each building when they arrived in only a few hours.
A Striking Encounter
I turned the lights back on in the crew office and spent the next 20 minutes or so cleaning. I was organizing everything by building and labeling bins & boxes with Sharpie & blue tape. I spotted one last item - a 2 foot tall Makey robot sign in the corner by the doors. I grabbed it and pivoted to place it with a stack headed to one of the buildings. As I pivoted, something hit the sign from behind - I was very confused, and turned back to see a Cottonmouth (aka Water Moccasin) snake that had been hiding behind the sign. It had rained quite a bit that day, and the door had been left open while we were loading-in. I can’t blame it for taking shelter in the corner by the door.
A Dilemma
At this point I’m now WIDE AWAKE, but looking at this potentially deadly snake in the corner, and I have the realization that if it escapes behind one of the hundreds of bins and boxes in the room, well…one of my friends could be very hurt, and at a minimum it will have a BIG impact on opening the event. I turn all the lights back on, and I quickly opened the door nearest the snake (from the outside!) and propped it open. I ran back inside the other door, and began looking around the room for tools to use to get this snake out of the office. I located a broom, a tent awning pole with a small hook on the end, and some red duct tape. I fashion a long pole hook thing all while watching the snake for any movement. I start heading for the snake and I realize that if the snake decides to strike at me, my legs are unprotected. I spot a blue moving blanket and tie it around my neck fashioning it into some nature of reverse super-hero cape. I wish I’d taken a selfie at that moment, because it had to look completely ridiculous!
I approached the snake with the pole hook thing intending to nudge it back outside. Let’s just say that the snake and I had a difference of opinion, and with the first nudge, the snake decided to dart further inside - right toward a giant pile of supplies for the event. I knew that if I lost the snake into the chaos of the office, there was a decent possibility that someone from our crew could be struck by a poisonous snake. I didn’t want to injure the snake, but at that moment I was out of options, but I didn’t expect what would happen next.
A True WTF Moment
As I pin the snake to the wall, I hear “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”. I look up, and it is our security guard for the event, hand on her gun, looking at me as if I’m crazy. It takes me a second to snap out of snake hunter mode, and to realize that she’s completely focused on me and doesn’t realize that that I have a poisonous snake pinned to the wall. I gesture over to the snake (it is injured, but still moving) and she nods and asks again, “WHO ARE YOU?” I explain that I’m one of the event organizers, that I was the guy in the rain jacket that said goodbye to her an hour ago, and that my wife Candy was her contact. She relaxes as she hears Candy’s name. She asked if I needed help with the snake, and I told her that I was ok at that point. As she walked away I could only imagine what she’d be telling her co-workers about the crazy guy with the moving blanked cape.
Adrenaline & Not Much Sleep
I managed to get the snake out of the office and deposited it in the retention pond from which it came - which was a bit of comedy in itself as I tried to fling it over the fence and managed to miss and had to scoop it up and do it again. I cleaned up the mess from pinning it to white baseboard, cleaned up a bit more and headed home.
Luckily the adrenaline hit kept me awake for the drive home. I left a note for Candy that I was going to sleep through the morning prep (my only choice at that moment, since I can’t function on 1 hour of sleep) - and got in bed not long before her alarm sounded. I slept about 2 hours when my phone starting buzzing. I ignored it for a while, but in the end, someone called me over and over until I answered. I assumed it was an emergency, but it was just an excited maker who assumed that I was on-site and they REALLY wanted me to see their newest creation.
Since I was up, I showered and headed back to the Fairgrounds making it in time for the gate opening
Memories
While I remember the snake encounter vividly, the day after is a giant blur. Just in case you interacted with Zombie-Ian that day in 2019, now you know the whole story!
I hope you enjoyed this crazy Maker Faire memory!
Ian
