Fair day

After a week of wild, rainy weather today was nicely warm and mostly sunny. I had to get up earlier than usual on a Saturday to schlep a tent, tables, notecards and jewelry about 14 miles away to the craft fair held on a town common. It's the longest continually running fair in the state...or so they say. (They also used to claim that it never rained on this particular fair, but they had to stop saying that after last year's downpour.) It's also the fair that I've attended as a vendor for the longest span of time, the first one for me back in 1996. 

Part of its allure is the social aspect. Many friends and former students make the rounds, stopping by my booth to say hello and introduce children and grandchildren. I get the news from vacationing colleagues, and I get to see them looking relaxed and tan, quite the contrast from our school year appearances. 

Last year I sold a record amount of product because the rainy weather kept people from spending the day on the lake or at the beach; this year, however, the warm weather worked against us and my take was less than half but still a reasonable amount. The eyeglasses necklaces sold well as did watches (I make the bracelets that attach to watch faces that I purchase) and some of the new pieces sold right away. There were fewer people who bought on impulse and more who made some kind of purchase significant to them, like a souvenir or a gift for someone else. I'd say the poor economy has influenced the buying public, so I'm fortunate to have done okay while there were others who sold virtually nothing. 

The bad thing about this fair is that I almost never have a chance to shop at it. Some years a friend of mine helps me set up and sits with me for part of the morning but she's out of state this year, and each year my husband runs a road race held a few towns south of us on the same day, so I was on my own. The kind folks in the tent next to mine helped me open my tent and set it up. The editor of the local paper who came to see if I had a Lake bracelet she could photograph delivered a hamburger and iced tea from the food booth for me. But I never did get to wander the grounds to see the booths that weren't near mine. Maybe that's better because I didn't have the chance to spend my hard earned cash, but it would still be nice to see what others were offering for sale. 

At the end of the event, my husband arrived to help me break down and pack up my things, and he even helped to unpack and store the tables and crates of product. Just think: I get to do it all over again this coming weekend, and for two days instead of one! I hope business is as good as or even better than it was today.