That was the disappointing reality for the workers behind the Totara Estate Day of Many Things event yesterday, which almost nobody attended.
The intention was to have a family-themed day with games and activities, but dreary rain put a stop to that.
Visitor host and cook Annie Baxter said the lack of guests was disappointing, but understandable given the weather.
Instead of sulking, the staff made the best of a bad situation and enjoyed the activities themselves.
All of the activities were either real pastimes children would have enjoyed back in the 1800s or based on the history of the time.
This included french knitting, the more polite term for what many knew as "rat’s tails", Ms Baxter said.
The style of knitting created long tubes by winding yarn around a wooden cotton spool and could be made into a variety of goods, such as coasters, or hats.
There was also peg dolls, which involved sticking, gluing and twisting scraps on to wooden pegs to make low-budget peg people.
They had pipe cleaners for arms, wool for hair, burlap for a hat and sharpie for eyes.
A special story time space was set up, which only two children got to use, the sons of one of the staff members.
When the rain subsided the staff headed out for a "boat race", wearing cardboard boxes held up with suspenders.
The boats represented the race to deliver frozen goods to London for the first time.
Ms Baxter said Totara Estate played a vital part in shaping the Waitaki we see today, as it kick-started the meat industry the area was now known for.
The meat grown at the estate was loaded on board the first frozen shipment, which departed Port Chalmers for London on February 15 1882.
It made the trip in about 90 days. Of the thousands of carcasses delivered to London’s Smithfield Market, only one was rejected.
That expedition was recreated by the Totara Estate staff strapping on cardboard boxes and running across a wet field with smiles on their faces.
Although the day was unsuccessful, they were looking forward to the Clarks Mill open day next weekend and hoping for better weather.
