So, Mom and I had a booth at the Englewood Fine Arts Festival over the weekend. It was our first time doing this show, and it was utterly fab. Here in Ohio, we've had the most lovely, temperate summer. . . until Saturday! Yesterday, it was ninety-four degrees and so humid that, by noon, I was rocking a serious afro. At least we had a breeze most of the time, but we were fairly well wilted by the time the show closed yesterday at five.
It was held at Centennial Park, and our booth was right next to a pond with a fountain and a very happy group of ducks. Look at the great view we had! The people were wonderfully friendly, and we had a great time. I got some incredible candles and a piece of art made from wood and tin from a 150 year old barn from Northern Ohio. And some wacky fellow tried to hypnotize my mother with his metaphysical talisman. No, really.
In addition, I handed out a ton of business cards, and something occurred to me. Even if I don't get a single sale from all of the cards I handed out this weekend, someone on the etsy website certainly will. If these potential customers come to etsy and can't find what they want in my shop, some of them will end up buying something from someone else. It's a side of the etsy community that I hadn't really considered before: Every time one of us promotes or advertises our own shops, we bring in new potential customers for all of the sellers. Most of the people I spoke with had never heard of etsy, but became very interested after I explained what it was and how many great, unusual items they might find there. So, thanks to all of you who are better at promoting than I have been, so far. I'll try to pick up some slack from here on out.
Now, I need to get back to work making stuff for the Oktoberfest in my hometown, Vandalia, just weeks from now.
I love festival season!
It's a show weekend! I should be doing show getting ready stuff right now! Instead, I am wasting time on the computer. Because that's how I roll.
Tomorrow is my last show of this busy year of fairs, festivals and craft events, Christmas in the Village in quaint New Lebanon, Ohio. By quaint I mean that they have a McDonald's and three stop lights. Please note that the face on the kitty in the picture above is pretty much an accurate representation of what my mom's face will look like by four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to both the show and a rest from shows for awhile. So, if you're in New Lebanon tomorrow, for whatever odd reason you might be in New Lebanon, please stop in at the high school gym and see us!
Oh, my goodness, it was marshy at the Pretzel Festival this year! My shoes are still drying out. My display was a bit cramped and simplistic, because the forecast called for driving rain, so no pictures of our set up. Instead, I thought I'd go for some happy festival ambience. Here are the teeny tiny mushrooms that had sprouted beneath the tree next to our tent. I'm glad I got a picture of them early, because they got trampled pretty quickly.
This is my friend Frank with his gorgeous jewelry and extremely professional set up. Frank and Ray are so much fun, and they went the extra mile to keep us entertained during the foggy, misty, swampy weekend. He makes all of his display fixtures. Aren't they gorgeous? Don't you want one? He may start selling them on etsy!
