Wow! After watching your video I now realize how many MINI's were really in the parade.
I thought there was half that amount but that video seems to go on forever and a day.

 

97 left the dam parking area, and about 10 came down from Fontana and jumped the line at the beginning.

 

I edited my video to eliminate a long 30-40 second gap roughly in the middle. I was about to shut down when the second group came along...

 

I want to clarify this as I was the one that posted to stay off the grass, and I was one of the 3 saying that you could park with 2 wheels on the grass the day of the parade.

The parking situation entirely depended on the weather. The representative from the TVA first instructed us to keep off the grass and keep one lane open for emergency vehicles. There had been some damage to TVA property in the past and they were concerned about it happening again. In the same exchange, he said that we could park with 2 wheels on the grass if it had not rained in the few days prior to the parade, in order to allow for a better traffic flow. To err on the side of caution, I posted in the thread to stay off the grass entirely. For those of you who followed these instructions, thank you, you did no harm and I appreciate you remembering and following the post in the forum.
When people arrived at the base of the dam, Steve (Meilnicki) and I (COOP310) informed each car as it pulled in that you could park with two wheels on the grass. This action had been approved by the TVA based on the weather leading up to the parade, and was to avoid creating any traffic problems. If you got a gift bag then I am 100% sure that you were given these directions as well. My wife (HaleysMommy) walked down the small line of cars that arrived before we were able to start passing out the gift bags and told them the same thing. She said that she only got push back from one car. For those of you who followed the directions given at the site, thank you.

If the parking situation was confusing to anyone, I apologize. The end result was, however, that we all got to drive the dragon together and that is what the parade was all about!

The TVA was happy with the way things went and there was no damage to their property, which is why we were directing traffic to begin with, so in that respect the event was a success!

 

Not a big deal, and yes, this event was a success! But, I was one who received a gift bag pulling in and this thread is the FIRST I have heard about the 2 on 2 off thing. I thought I was being a good guy by staying on the pavement.


Jason

 

That's funny, that's exactly how I felt...I said to my girlfriend, "I'm glad I read NAM and know not to park on the grass". I also received a gift bag and didn't hear any word. But no big deal, just didn't like to hear the word lemming when I thought I was doing the right thing.

 

Sorry, maybe lemming was a bit strong. If you look at my video on the previous page you will notice the first 4 cars at least are 2 and 2, and it went back that way for a bit, at some point someone did not line up with the car in front of them and I guess everyone followed the car ahead.......

...wait, that is lemming like!

 

That's what I was thinking. Out of ~100 MINIs, it's a very big possibility that instructions may have been missed(on both the giving and receiving ends). After being given the swag bag, my wife made a comment along the lines of "Shouldn't they have told us to stay off the grass?"

It just hit me wrong last night when there were back-to-back posts that (to me) made it sound like folks weren't very smart because they didn't park with two wheels in the grass. I realize that is most likely not the way it was intended, but it's hard to pick up inflections, etc. when things are typed instead of spoken.

Either way, as said before: great event, and we're glad you guys stepped up and made it happen.

 

No, they just meant that YOU'RE not very smart because you didn't park on the grass...

 

Everyone followed the instructions in one form or another and I am very happy about that. It doesn't matter what instructions they followed because either way there was no damage to TVA property.

Maybe the miscommunication was because we were on the passenger side of cars handing out bags. Its always possible that the "2 on 2 off" didn't get relayed to the driver.

 

Thanks, Blimey. Nothing like the support of your friends.

 

Thats very possible, after all if you were talking to my passenger then that would have been my 13 year old daughter.
And if you were telling her that the car would explode if we drove any further she would'nt bother to tell me that little bit of information.
Didn't you notice the Ipod earpiece in her ear that keeps her from hearing adult voices with the Ipod in place she can only hear her teenage friends NO ADULTS....