There is Good News

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Simon is a natural mechanical genius so he was instrumental in figuring how to securely fasten the tent to the top of the car.

What made this load-in different from local events is that I would need to fit in the car with Steve. Usually we have the passenger seat pushed forward as far as it will go, leaving no room for a passenger so I drive my own car to the venue. That works perfectly for local shows so Steve can head home as soon as he helps bring everything into the booth.

Simon helped Steve with the new configuration that worked beautifully. I don't think they were joking when they asked me to take a photograph so they'd have it for future reference. We thought we'd have to put a lot more stuff on the roof of the vehicle so we were all thrilled.

I left work at noon on Friday and Simon helped me set up the tent in the front yard so I could have one more practice under my belt and we could try staking the tent to the ground and give the weights a test. We left it up until Steve got home a couple of hours later so we could give him the tour so he'd be at least a little familiar with it.

We hit the road at 4:30, checked in at the hotel and went to the church where the show was to be held. My heart sank when I saw how small it was. As if I wasn't depressed enough. There were about a half dozen tents already set up so we set to work setting up ours after I checked in. (We didn't put anything inside the tent - we did that the next morning.) It went almost perfectly (more on that later) and we went to dinner at our traditional out-of-town restaurant of choice, TGI Fridays.

We got back to the room about 9:30 and were both so full and tired we could hardly stay awake. We had left home later than I thought we would, but I had somehow envisioned having hours to work on product in the hotel so I had brought a box of stuff to work on. Never touched it.

The forecast had been for the rain to start at 4:00 am. The show started at 10:00 and it didn't start raining until 11:00, sprinkled until noon and downpoured the rest of the day. So based on the delayed rain, I would say my expectation of the entire ordeal was about 99% accurate. So much for being pleasantly surprised.

This is my beautiful new canvas sign I had made to go on the outside of the tent. (Don't you love that font??) The one little mistake we made in setting up the tent is that we put the top on facing the side. Meaning, the loops that we were to attach this sign to were on the side of the tent, rather than the front. Good thing I had a Plan B in my head, to hang it inside on the back wall. Of course, I then sat in that chair all day, my big fat head blocking the the word Handstitched, the most important word on the sign. Seriously, it must have been okay though because there are a lot of people who read out loud so I could tell they read the whole sign just fine.

I met another paper artist, Philippa Schrader, who was very interesting and her work was outstanding. She offered lots of paper earrings, some using spirelli elements, also paper boxes, a bit of origami and some framed work that was really interesting. She has a website but there's nothing on it but her name at the moment or I'd link there.

A potter I know from a show in Rochester, Jeannie Nutting of Drafty Rafters Studio in Conesus, gave me her friend's name who owns Bridle Creek Bed & Breakfast which caters to quilters, among others. So I'll follow up with her.

Jeannie is interesting in that she owns a former ambulance. It serves as her camper and how she hauls stuff to craft shows. Looking at her show schedule on her website, I see she does quite a bit of traveling, lots in the Adirondack mountains. Nice!

I made lots of notes about things to bring for future shows, outdoor shows in particular: Bandaids (nothing serious, just a staple stuck in my finger), paper towels, hand sanitizer, small sandbags to steady the standing rack.

I had been so focused on keeping my product dry inside the tent, I never once thought about my customers keeping it dry once they bought it. Fortunately everyone who bought a quantity deserving a larger of my bags that were paper already had a larger plastic bag that we could slip my paper package into.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the high quality of vendors there. When I saw the small church I thought for sure we were in for the church bazaar level of product. (No offense, not that there's anything wrong with that.) They had a barista inside selling interesting coffees, there was a psychic who had a very tasteful booth. I would have gone for a reading if I'd had time - I've always wanted to do that. There was a guy making wood flutes who played one off and on throughout the day so the music carried throughout the yard. That was nice. There was a nice Native American man across from me with beautiful stone sculptures. He's the only one I talked to who had done the show before. He said with nicer weather, there's usually a really good turn out. It's on a very busy street.

I was shocked there were any customers at all in that rain. I tell you, I love crafts and I would not have left the house! I think I counted about 6 empty spaces where vendors didn't show up. Believe me, I considered it but just couldn't live with myself if I did that. It's so unprofessional. (I should have counted but I'd say there was room for maybe 20 vendors on the lawn. There were painters and jewelry people and others inside, so maybe another 6 in the church basement.)

Leslie, my carpet didn't work there because the grass was too long so it made the carpet really lumpy and it looked too dangerous to me. Also - now I see how to rig the weights! I'll have Simon figure out how we can attach a rope to our existing weights. I saw several people with set-ups like you suggested and people with really inadequate weights. I fell right in the middle of the pack. Thank goodness the forecast of no wind held true - the rain came straight down and the tent didn't budge, nor did it leak. Though I will be looking into how to waterproof the seams. I got a few drips on the back of my neck, sitting in my chair, but my product remained dry, to the best of my knowledge. (Just don't get me started on people with umbrellas at craft shows.)

At one point it was raining so hard, I swear I couldn't hear myself think inside. And as I said to another vendor, at least I got lots of stitching done, not having to deal with many pesky customers. She laughed, "I know, with the making change and bagging orders - who has time for that??"

I think it was Bonnie who suggested I package my Sticky Notes in cellophane sleeves like I do the cards but I pooh-poohed the idea. Now I'm all for it! I'll set my notepads out to dry today. Even though they never got rained on, they definitely absorbed some moisture. I think packaging them in nice right-sized cello sleeves will also keep them pristine with the packing and unpacking of them too.

I was very happy to see that we could pull Steve's Explorer onto the sidewalk, right up to my location so packing the car in the pouring rain was as good as it could be.

That man deserves a medal for all he put up with this weekend. I paid for late check-out at the hotel so he could stay there until 2:30. He then drove to a park and read there for about 90 minutes. The show was to run until 5:00 but the organizers told us at 4:15 that we could pack up and leave if we want to. We all did.

Lessons learned, made some money and I survived.* I'm still gung ho on doing outdoor shows. I'm still waiting to hear if I've been accepted at a new 2-day outdoor show in August, then a 3-day mother-of-all-shows in October. That's outdoors in October - when it's been known to snow in this area! Then the indoor shows begin, which I guess will seem like a breeze! Meanwhile nose to the grindstone, baby! Build that inventory.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't have Pine Tree Designs pay for the hotel, meals or gas. With the rain predicted I knew it wouldn't be a matter of if I lost money on this venture but how much would I lose. I just couldn't let my precious Pine Tree Designs take that financial hit. So Stefani treated Stefani & Steve to the hotel & meals. Steve's vehicle was already gassed up. I know this isn't good business practice, income tax implications, blah, blah, blah. So sue me.

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