WHO: Open to All WHAT: A festival! WHERE: The public areas of the caves WHEN: Tuesday April 30, all day STATUS: Open, ongoing RATING: tbd!
Overnight, the public-facing cave completely transformed. School and training sessions were canceled, shops moved from inside their structures to small booths set up outside, and nearly everyone was free to enjoy the activities. Even a quicker rotating schedule was set up for guard duty so that no one had to miss much. Aside from the booths and food stalls, there were carnival-style games of chance and skill, several stages set up (one in each of the rooms of the cave), and yes, even rides. A few zip lines spanned the cave system, some skimming close to the underground streams and others at a steep angle to pick up a fair amount of speed before ending in bouncy inflatable platforms. For the kids (and the tired), there was even a relatively sedate train that rolled through the entire experience.
As the day wore on, the younger kids were sent home and the main cavern cleared of rides and games, the food stalls and bar staying open as the dance began. With one last act on the main stage, interspersed with what was left of the cave's pooled resources for records, it wasn't a grand affair like it might have been aboveground, but they were making do with what they had. it had been nearly a year, and they'd survived. That was worth celebrating no matter what the celebration looked like.