When there is a major event happening in an area, it can be really hard to find parking spots.

What happens when someone parks in such a way that it blocks your driveway so you can’t get in or out?

That’s what happened to the dad in this story, and he found a creative way to make sure it didn’t happen again.

Check it out.

Park so you’re blocking both sides of our driveway? Hooboy.

I spent my teenage years living in a small town of around 3,000 to 4,000 people.

My parents had purchased a house near the downtown area, just a literal block away from the bank and all the mom and pop shops.

It was very convenient, except for one weekend out of the entire year.

Local festivals can get pretty busy.

For one weekend in October, this town had a very well known festival.

Our small community ballooned from 3 to 4 thousand people living there to easily over 30k people invading for just that one weekend.

There were booths, a carnival, a bus tour that took people out to see historical sites, a play production, and vendors everywhere selling homemade goods and food.

Parking was A Nightmare.

No street was safe.

No lawn was safe.

It wasn’t unusual for me to walk outside Saturday morning and find vehicles parked on our side lawn.

We were very close to the main action, and some of the vendors asked very nicely if they could park there for convenience.

My Dad was pretty chill about it.

If you asked, he always gave permission as he understood how harry it was.

We also had a two car garage with four spaces for parking.

Two outside the garage, and two between those spaces and the side walk.

Those two were split by a median that had a spindly tree in the center.

My parents would park their cars in the garage and offer the four free spaces to friends and family.

And almost always we’d get elderly and/or handicapped people asking if they could park there, to which my father always said yes.

In fact, he started giving people our number to call and reserve a spot for free.

Now for the actual deets:

One year someone decided to park in front of the median to our driveway.

That’s going to be a problem.

It wasn’t a large car, I suppose they thought they could fit there without issue.

However, the front and back bumper were blocking both sides of the driveway.

A few of our handicapped friends arrived early and had to drive over the curb a bit to get in. My father wasn’t happy about it, but getting the car towed wasn’t really possible.

As I said, this was a tiny town and the cops had their hands full.

Plus, getting a tow truck into that area would have been very difficult, considering three of the four streets by my house (we were on a corner) were blocked by the festival.

Nothing to be done about it.

At some point whoever owned the car returned to it and left while we weren’t aware.

The next year, it happened again.

Not sure if it was the same car.

But again, it was blocking the driveway on both sides.

I walked outside that morning to greet the vendors I knew would be on our side lawn and then go get funnel cakes and there that car was.

This time it was there all day.

My father was really unhappy.

We had friends and family and folks who had reserved spots having to curb check every time they wanted in or out.

We figured they wouldn’t be back on Sunday, as they hadn’t been last year.

But also, we weren’t sure if it was the same person.

My dad, however, decided to put a plan in action just in case.

Maybe he could put a note on the car?

Sure enough, the next day there’s that car again, blocking our driveway.

I sighed and shook my head and ran off to get the morning’s coffee and funnel cakes for the family.

On returning, my father was putting his plan into action.

The night before, he’d taken our cars out of the garage and parked them on the now empty streets.

Ok, that’s pretty funny.

Soon as he saw that car had parked itself into the median again, he gleefully parked both cars a fraction of an inch before their front and rear bumpers.

Then he got himself a cooler of beer, cracked one open, and sat on our front porch in a rocking chair to watch.

It was a really nasty, cold, rainy day.

So thankfully we didn’t have any reservations from friends to park.

My dad spent the better part of the day watching the world go by, drinking beer, and waiting.

Eventually the couple who owned the car returned.

They got into their car and turned it on to get the defroster working.

And sat there for a good fifteen minutes.

Probably assessing their situation.

The driver gets out, checks the front bumper, then the back. My dad is grinning from ear to ear but he doesn’t call out to the guy.

Finally he leaves, his wife or girlfriend or whatever stays in the passenger seat.

When he returns he has a cop with him.

Now, this is a small town, the cops all know my father, he’s a local mechanic.

Also, there’s an ordinance about drinking alcohol in public, so Dad had to swiftly stash his beer and close the cooler.

The cop just shook his head as he observed the situation.

I’m pretty sure he was laughing internally, or maybe screaming since the festival was always hard on the local police force.

He approaches my father.

“Hey (Dad), how’s it going today?”

“Good day to ya, Officer. Just enjoying the scenery on this rainy day.”

“Look, I get that you’re unhappy they parked where they did. But I’m going to need you to move your vehicles.”

“I just want an apology from them, Officer. And to promise they never do it again.”

The cop just sighed heavily. “I’m sure they are very sorry, (Dad). Please move your cars for me? I’d be real appreciative.”

So Dad takes his time doing so.

Hopefully the guy learned his lesson.

The guy didn’t get out of his car or roll down his window the whole time while this is going on and as soon as the cars are moved, he takes off.

But not without first getting a ticket from the officer.

We never had anyone attempt to park in the median ever again. But Dad still kept our cars parked on the street just in case.

Parking during a major event is a hassle; I’m glad this guy found a way to keep bad parkers away.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say.

The folding chair is sacred.

Wow! 40 years!

There is real money to be made.

Sometimes you have to get help to protect your spots.

He legally can’t move the car.

Event parking can really be a nightmare!

But everyone has to follow the rules.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.