Art Fair News (with major editing)

First of all I didn't mean to worry anyone with my last post. I was exhausted and felt that the Art Fair kicked my tooshie.

Monday: I knew we were going to be on gravel and didn't want my bags ruined so hubbie and I ran to builders carpet to get me and my friend each a chunk of carpet, which turned out to be a great thing.

They were predicting the weather in the 90's so I ran to Fashion Bug to get some nicer tanks with the built in bras (my fave). I just feel so much cooler with bare shoulders. I ended up with 3 for $16 and change. Not bad.

I loaded everything in the monster truck and was ready to go.

Tuesday: The kids and I get there, set up the tent, racked everything and got the bleep out of there before it got crazy busy with other artists.

My friend got a late start, so I met her there at 10pm and helped her set up and were home by midnight.

We left the house Wednesday at 8:30. parked at the mall and caught the shuttle to avoid the huge parking fees. I love riding the bus, it feels so big city.

This is Wednesday, first day of the Art Fair, note the nice carpet.

It looked so nice (note the term looked)

It was a long, hot first day. Sales were slower than usual according to artists who'd been there before, and slower than I'd hoped but the people were very nice.

We closed up our tents, caught the shuttle and were home by 10:30.

I showered, hit the sheets and was asleep about 20 minutes when the phone rang.

It was Josh. I'm not sure what Joshs title is but he was the assistant of the coordinator so I knew it wasn't good that he was calling me. So I say "What happened to my tent?" It wasn't mine but my friends tent. Freaky storm blew in and trashed her tent and he told me it was bad. So I wake her, she thought I was kidding, we get there a bit after midnight other tents had toppled and her tent was trashed, broken metal. Luckily only one painting with glass broke and one other had a bit of water damage on the mat. Could have been worse. We dried off all the shrink wrapped paintings and stored them in the building we were using for potty and water breaks.

I tubed up all my things and lowered the tent since the weather was still an issue.

We were devastated and figured it's now 2am well figure out something in the morning.

So of course I couldn't sleep and needed to find a way to help my friend, I call my Mom at 6am, she has one of those quick shade tents, not great but what else can I do. I meet her halfway to her house, give thanks and smooches and head home. I pack lunches, get dressed, wake my friend and tell her all she has to do is shower and go, I have everything covered, she reluctantly agrees. I pack the little car and we head out to see what we can do.

I give her my tent, I take the smaller and less nice shade tent and just as we have the big stuff set up, in comes the Calvary. My Mom, Sister, her kids, my Step mom and my kids. They help hang bags, stack tissue packs and haul out watercolors. I am a lucky woman with a great family.

This is where I spent the rest of the fair, not as nice looking but my customers didn't seem to mind.

This is where the story becomes a giant blank spot due to personal things and respect to a 28 year friendship. Lets just say it got me down in the dumps a bit.

My fashion model earned her keep. Day three I put an apron on her and she sold 2 of them.

The last day was rainy/misty and I used the sides from the trashed tent. They didn't quite fit and looked kind of junky but kept me somewhat dry and got me through.

Quitting time was 6pm Saturday and my hubbie and kids showed up and made quick work of packing our stuff. Luckily it stopped raining for the hour it took to load up. YAY!

Total tally

I sold 31 bags (2 of those were llama bags, thanks Lisa)

2 sheet book bags, 9 tissue packs, 2 aprons, 1 art postcard and 1 pack of buttons.

No chick bags though, what is up with city gals?

Even though that was the most in sales of any show I've done, the booth fee was so high it took the first 2 days of sales to cover my costs.

Things I already knew

I have a great family

other artists are great people

I love my customers, not just because they purchased something but they made me feel so wonderful with their kind words and make me want to continue this path

Things I learned

Bigger isn't always better show wise. There were so many cheepie mass produced items for sale all over the city, it seemed more like a flea market than an Art Fair. Even thought I was invited back, I'm sticking to my smaller, more quality shows.

Giving help that wasn't asked for isn't always appreciated

If I drink tons of water and stand on my feet for 14 hours on 90 degree days, my ankles swell up like water baloons. So Gross.

I really missed my blog friends

Three weeks till the next show

Its a good thing I'm young ;-)

Ooohhh lookie what i got. I took a welding class a couple of years ago at our local college and they had a booth there and one of the instructors is this awsomely cool chick, well she gifted me with this dog food bowl stand. Ain't it cool!