The official "Reminisce about your most hated convomition site" thread

by B_Deserter 40 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  Mary

  WT Wizard said: Of all the venues I have been to, Copps Colosseum in Hamilton, Ontario was the most bearable.

  Yep, you're right. They had air conditioning in there which made it bearable. About 4 years ago, I actually went one day to the ASSembly in Kitchener, Ontario and it was on par with the Buffalo assembly of 1969---actually in a way it was worse. It was inside, there was NO air-conditioning, it was hotter than hell outside and with the humidity, it was over 100 degrees. Now just imagine 5,000 people INSIDE a building with no airconditioning accompanied by triple digits and high humidity. There were people fainting all over the place but do you think they'd cancel? No way. The Show must go on. I was absolutely drenched in sweat, I felt sick to my stomach because of the weather and you could actually see a haze inside there, due to all the smog and humidity. So at noon hour I said "f*ck this, I'm out of here" and I left.

  Even the really loyal Dubs were complaining about having to endure such shit conditions and many said they would NOT go back the next year unless there was air conditioning.

  Something tells me that the Slobbering Body members certainly don't have to endure sub-human conditions like this when there's an assembly.
• 

  JK666

  This thread takes me down memory lane. Yes, the Silverdome was bad, but I can recall many worse. B_D, you were not around in some of the real hellholes.

  The worst one I remember was when I was little. It was at a fairgrounds in Lima, Ohio (1960's). The toilet facilities were overflowing. Not with people, but raw sewage. It stank to high heaven. I remember it was hot and it was all bleachers and very uncomfortable.

  Tiger Stadium in Detroit (1970?) was pretty bad too. Hot and uncomfortable wooden chairs.

  I really liked the conventions in South Bend at Notre Dame. You could walk around and do laps. When you got bored, you turned around and walked the other direction. A great way to cruise for chicks, er, I mean sisters!

  JK
• 

  pratt1

  I can think of three horrible assembly sites.

  1. Veterans Stadium in Philly. I agree with NVRGNBK. We lived in NY so we drove every day to he assembly. I got 2nd degree burns on my nose and cheeks as an attendant in the parking lot. And I am black, you should have seen some of the white guys...

  2. The meadowlands NJ - It rained almost everyday and this is an outdoor stadium. Also the temperature dropped into the 50's one day and many dubs left early because of the cold. Of course there was a special needs talk that was given a week later. reprimanding the dubs for leaving early. I knew of one couple whose 2 year old caught pneumonia after the assembly because her parents refused to leave, and the child was poor dressed.

  3. Yankee Stadium NY- I don't care what any one says, that stadium in the 60's and 70's was horrible. Steep stairs, hard seats, not enough bathroms, and totally exposed to all the elements. And remember back then the assemblies lasted at least 5 days.
• 

  UU Now

  Tiger Stadium in Detroit (1970?) was pretty bad too. Hot and uncomfortable wooden chairs.

  I was at that one! Miserable.
• 

  saywhat29

  Veterens Stadium.

  Hell. Hot seats. Crazy people fighitng for shade. people taking seats underneath people's canopees and umbrellas. The madness. The smells. And most importantly, I dont remember a single thing from any of those days.

  Ah conventions.
• 

  Dagney

  That being said, the WORST was the Pasadena Rose Bowl in 1963. NO shade anywhere. 90f+ heat every day for EIGHT days. The food was cooked in an old US Army surplus field kitchen, served cafeteria style on stainless steel trays, with plywood stand up tables under tents. The 1+ hour wait in line was under the beating sun. People were dropping right and left. This was in the days before the convenient plastic water bottles. You stood in line at a cooler to get a flimsy folding paper cup of water that you perspired before you got back to your seat. Knorr gave a 90 min closing remarks and a 30 minute prayer

  Hi Gregor!

  I was there but very little. I remember being told "DO NOT TOUCH THE OLEANDERS!!!! YOU WILL DIE." As a little kid...I was scared to death I would accidently tought them and die! Remember the parade of the international attendees in their native dress...the poor ladies in the elaborate kimonos in 100 degree weather.

  Now I go there for much more fun things...UCLA games.
• 

  Bumble Bee

  Of all the venues I have been to, Copps Colosseum in Hamilton, Ontario was the most bearable.

  Yep, it's a pretty decent place if you have to sit for hours and hours for 3 or 4 days and listen to drivel! lol

  BB
• 

  R.Crusoe

  The Japanese have a TV show where contestants have to bear all sorts of unpleasantness. The winner is the last person to opt out. For example sitting half naked on a block of ice etc.. I often wondered if the winners had been trained at JW conventions where everyone is trained to bear discomfort and being generally pissed off for days on end wearing a huge smile so that nobody realises!
• 

  Bonnie_Clyde

  Detroit fairgrounds in 1964. Weather was hot and sweltering and everybody was praying for relief. On Saturday the clouds started rolling in. We were sitting in the bleachers at least 30 feet back, but were protected (we thought) by a roof. Not so! The storm began and it was furious. It blew horizontally up into the bleachers. We put up our umbrella, but the wind turned the umbrella inside out. Rain drenched our bookbags and soaked us to the bone. Male dubs found that their suits were shrinking right on their bodies. and females hairdos were ruined and makeup ran down their faces. The speaker's stand was overturned, and the session stopped right during a talk that was giving a new explanation of the resurrection--some of us thought that we might need a resurrection. One of the sisters next to me was crying that Armageddon had just begun. One of the cafeteria tents was blown down. We learned later that it was almost classified as a tornado.
• 

  restrangled

  The Hawthorne race track in Chicago. The hottest, smelliest place on earth. It faced south.... so all day long the sun beat down. We burned up and burned out on the first day.

  The only relief was watching the horses being trained in the fields behind the speaker.

  Most seats were bleachers, and believe me it was hell on earth to sit their all day. There was food poisening, fainting women, and lines to bathrooms that smelled so bad it would make you want to vomit.

  Those were the old 8 day nightmares. Huge lights would come on at night and kids could barely stay awake......I believe we use to leave about 9:00 pm and be back at 8:00 am. Talk about squeezing the love of god out of you!

  I believe most of those torture sessions taught me to hate religion.

  r.