After wrapping up an amazing few days in Aberdeen, SD and waiting out the snow storm that hit afterwards, we were on our way to Grand Forks, ND to perform at the Chester Fritz Auditorium on the campus of the University of North Dakota.  We arrived safely, got checked into our hotel, and got some rest before show day.

Saturday morning, we pulled into the loading dock of the Chester Fritz.  The crew was waiting and ready to start the day….which went very well!  We loaded in, set up, teched the show, and were ready for dinner by 5pm – outstanding crew!

Loading-dock

Cases made it from the truck to the stage….

Cases-stage

Seating

Scenery, lights, sound, and illusions get put into place….

Drops-Lights

We tweaked the lighting cues, focused the intelligent lighting, and moved quickly through the remaining things that needed to be done.

Sky-cube

Grid

 

Doors opened at 7pm and the audience streamed into the theatre.  I could tell they were going to be a fun crowd as there was already a sense of excitement in the air!  Unfortunately, Cindy was still very ill for this show so it was “just the guys” performing on the stage.  Chase and Eli did a great job of picking up the slack and making the show run smoothly…and the audience rolled with us!

THANK YOU Grand Forks for being such a great audience!

After the show, we were told that another Winter Storm Watch was now in effect and the region would be expecting between 8 – 18 inches of snow!  We needed to be able to start heading south as quickly as possible but the snow was supposed to arrive in Grand Forks starting around 4am.

Thankfully, the storm slowed a bit.  When we woke up, the storm was now predicted to hit Grand Forks at 1pm – several hours later than expected.  This brief reprieve gave us a few more hours to get out of town.  We drove for a couple of hours in clear skies on great roads…and then, it all started to change.

Icy-road

We had to pull of the road around Watertown, SD to give the storm some time to travel north.  It was brutal – wind, snow, white out conditions, blizzards, cold, freezing rain, ice….all made for treacherous roads.

Truck in Ditch

 

Tonight, we are in Sioux Falls, SD just a few hours from our next stop – LINCOLN, NE!