Many bluegrass festivals have an open area in front of the stage and then 1 or 2 very large tents at in good view of the stage for seating with protection from the sun or rain. I was not at Old Songs this year, but the festival I went to (same weekend) was Jenny Brook bluegrass festival in Vermont. We had the same downpours most of the weekend, but the shows went on with very little disruption because the hundreds of people under the tents were dry, as were the performers on the covered stage. Some people always place a chair in the open sunny area and another under the tent, knowing that all seats are fair game to be used by others if you're not in them, and immediately given up when you return.

Speaking of chairs, one thing that particularly annoyed me was one year at Old Songs when I purposely placed our two chairs on the aisle so we could come and go easily. Someone moved us in and put themselves on the aisle rather than filling in the open middle spaces. Fixed her, though. Climbed over her and her companions often and well.

And in regard to Jeri's comment about getting funny looks about joining a jam, that's absolutely NOT the case with us at least. We consider the jams one of the most important parts of any festival, and hope people will join us.

My strategies for mosquitos - cover every square inch of skin you possibly can (sox, long pants, long sleeves, turtleneck, hat), use bug spray, burn citronella. Beyond that, nothing you can do but deal with it...