A Scheckadelic Experience
Theme: Psychedelic 60's. Tie-Dye, Blacklight, Beatles, Lightshows, Fluorescent paints Inna Gadda Da Vida, Steppenwolf. Jimi Hendrix. Fog machines. Lasershow. Giant Balloons.
October 27,28,29 Setup on 25,26
A Scheck History, or how it all began:
Scheck: It all started with Scheck Garden Apartments. If you went down Archer road, you would find some apartments called Brandywine. Behind these apartments was the trailer park known as Mobile City. This was where the poor people lived in Gainesville. If you couldn’t afford to live there, there was a place where even poorer people lived. It was behind Mobile City, at the edge of the forest. It was called Scheck Garden Apartments. People too poor to do anything but have fun.
My first Scheck party was in 1979, right next to Scheck Gardens. Someone got some carpet from a dumpster and that became the stage. Someone else brought a guitar and amp and started playing music. A fire was started and someone else brought some chicken to cook. Informal was not the word. I remember Tim, totally stoned, dropping the chicken in the fire, and later falling in the fire himself. Neither chicken nor Tim were injured in the production of this event.
Scheck parties are usually stoner events. Sometimes people get carried away with beer, and can get belligerent (Most Frat parties, for example). Not Scheckites. If you get too stoned, you just get quiet, maybe pass out. We won’t talk about other things.Bernie had Boo (Halloween) parties at his place outside of Archer. Usually a band would come and play on his porch. Sometimes a hot air balloon would show up, and people could get rides. One year there was an "official" stage, and as electrician, I got to connect the power. Tying the power cables in live, I slipped, made big sparks, and scared everyone. Still worked okay, though. One year it rained, and everyone took off their clothes and ran around nekkid. I didn’t see this, as I was passed out in my tent. Generally, a lot of people camp out.
Often, late at night, the cops would show up as we were too loud and annoying the neighbors. I remember one party where the Cops showed up and were pretty pissed. They wanted to know where the owner of the property was, and no one knew where Bernie was. I tried to placate the cops by telling them that I was the electrician and I could shut the power off to make it quiet. Don, his brains completely out of it, decided to confront the cops. Don, whose pupils couldn’t get much larger, telling the cops off, while we’re trying to reassure them everything’s cool, we’ll be quiet. Finally they left.
The first Garden Party (spring party as opposed to Boo) was held at Tom’s place out in Micanopy. Beverly’s front porch became the stage, and it ended up being a big production, with a full lighting, big sound, and mosquitoes that could carry you away. Great party. Too much work. Stress. A funny story about the garden party involved our resident artist, Don. He just couldn’t seem to get motivated to create a design for the party fliers. A certain young lady "volunteered" to act as a canvas for the design of the flyer, which also became the T-shirt design. This involved body painting. No clothes. Don was highly motivated!
Scheck parties sort of go in cycles. Someone will get motivated and organized, get a bunch of bands to play, have a lot of people show up. We’ve had in excess of 500 people, which is pretty crowded for a backyard party. At that point, this isn’t just a party any more, it’s an event, and people have to work, and be responsible. Suddenly, it’s not fun for the people putting it on. It’s work!Occasionally we have people who want to commercialize the event. They want to promote the event, get lots of people there and charge a good price at the gate. They get big ideas about promoting bands, making video tapes, or generally making a buck on the event. I think they eventually realize that it’s simply too much work and not worth the effort. They sort of burn out. Fortunately, some else picks up the torch, and deals with the party the next year. It may be smaller, but also much easier. Many people have hosted the party (had it on their property), since the early days at Scheck Gardens. Strawberry had the party at Emerald Forest, Clark had it in his back yard. Bernie had it at his place out in Archer, and Tracy and Didi had it in St.
Augustine one year at the Coquina mine. More recently, the Scheck parties have been held at Tuskawilla ranch courtesy of Linda. Jennifer hosted it last year at her farm in Archer.