On “Mornings With Dave & Natalie,” we asked for your help compiling a bucket list for my first summer in Madison – and boy, did you deliver! I plan to check off many of your suggestions throughout the summer – and beyond – and write about my experiences. You can also follow along on Life 102.5’s Facebook and Instagram pages, where I’ll be posting as I go. Thanks for helping to make my first Madison-area summer a memorable one!
A lot of you recommended I expand my summer bucket list north an hour and a half and go to Lifest in Oshkosh. Being new to Wisconsin, I had no idea how big of a deal this was– but I’m so glad I decided to go!
I got there Friday afternoon to help Dave in the Life 102.5 tent. We had a great spot at the back of the Grandstand area, so that’s where I spent most of my time. My favorite part was getting to meet so many of you who stopped by to say hi and welcome me to the station. Another huge perk was getting to hear all of the concerts going on, even if I couldn’t see very well from back there. Plus, we also weren’t far from the food truck selling some really tasty fried cheese curds. We happily ate those by the bucket!
My husband and kids came and joined me Friday evening, which means some of you also got to meet my family! My 5-year-old is already embracing his new role as a radio kid, and I swear he’s the station’s biggest fan. He was very proud to show off the Life 102.5 sticker collection to anyone who stopped by!
Friday’s line-up featured Grayson Russell, a former child actor known for movies like “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” as well as 100 White Flags, Natalie Layne, Riley Clemmons, Ben Fuller and Zach Williams. Ben Fuller shared his testimony, and it was so powerful. His song “But the Cross” is a favorite in our house right now, so it was really cool to hear him do it live.
Saturday morning, we took the kids back to Lifest for a bit to enjoy some family time before shipping them off to their grandparents’ for the rest of the day. My son and I rode the Ferris wheel, which offered a very cool view of the grounds.
Late Saturday afternoon is when things got pretty interesting! You can see in the photo below of Cochren & Co. that the clouds were starting to come in, and there were rumors of a storm. However, the cell service was very spotty there, so no one was able to check the weather forecast. A bunch of us were relying on people from the outside to text us what they were seeing — just hoping that the texts would come through in time.
After Cochren & Co., it was time for Matt Maher’s set at 7 p.m. He probably got two or three full songs in before lightning struck very close to us, and he was whisked off stage mid-song with the rest of his band. Thankfully, we had seen the writing on the wall at the Life 102.5 tent and had already started packing up. We closed the van door just as the first rain drops started falling … and fall they did!
People who had been going to Lifest for years told me they had never seen it rain quite like this before! (My Birkenstocks still have not recovered!) The Grandstand was quickly becoming a lake, and people packed together taking shelter wherever they could. The question on everybody’s minds was whether the For King & Country concert scheduled for later that night was still happening, or if it would get cancelled.
Much to my dismay, my husband and I thought for sure they would cancel everything given the severity of the storm, so we opted to go back to the hotel and get dry. I’m not posting a picture of our drenched selves here because no one needs to see that. Needless to say, my eye makeup did not hold, and we were a sorry, soggy sight!
We were keeping tabs on the Lifest website and social media pages to see if they were delaying the concert; next thing we know, we see videos of For King & Country performing. Not going to lie, I was extremely bummed, but we were seeing on Facebook that some people had gotten stuck on the flooded roads, so we didn’t feel safe going back at that point. I do love how Lifest played into it, posting videos with the hashtag #soggybottomchristians.
Even with the disappointment of Saturday night, I still really enjoyed my first Lifest! My son liked it so much he’s already asked if we can go back every year, so I’ve already marked next year’s dates on the calendar!
In the meantime, where should I go next?