May 24, 2007 Mayfair Festival of the Arts, Day 1

Day 1 of Mayfair was looooong. K and I went and found out booth space a little after 9 am. I am buying a new tent from a friend so we went and got it around 10. He came over and helped us/ showed us how to set it up. Man, it is a BEAR, heavy, challenging, and seems so much bigger than my old EZ up (although they are the same 10x10). This is certainly only going to be used at shows that I have a leisurely set up available.

So like most shows it started out with an idiot. Out neighbor parked his van in from of my booth and couldn’t be bothered to move it back 10 feet and park it in front of his booth when we arrived. Idiot. Now I won’t be aggressive about these types of things, especially when it is going to be a long show, but it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see that it is not only making out set up harder, but everyone down the line because we are all shifted 10 feet and blocking each others booths. You’d think that people that do these things for a living would loose the idiot factor after having this stuff done to them. But they don’t. Karma will prevail….

Once we got the booth set up we left and picked up lunch, ran back to the house to get another table to work at (and a chair), and returned to finish setting up the display. I am between a wrought iron guy and a chair guy. My jury is still out as to how “handcrafted” their items are, but I am in the Garden Market, so I don’t think that counts here, I think only the Artist Market is 100% handcrafted…

As for the Garden Market. I am very happy that the show has ended the cul-de-sac way it has been set up in the past. See the main show is along a paved path, but then these half-circles of vendors would bulge out here and there (usually the culinary and the garden markets). In the rain and the dark no one ever wanted to leave the path and walk 60 feet back to see what else was there. So sales are defiantly better on the main drag, which is where I am this year... Whoo Hoo!

The show started at 4 and started picking up around 7ish. There were lots of people, just none too many buying. Sales were pretty good for a Thursday, night, at a gated event, that doesn’t charge to get in on Thursday. We left around 9:30 and it felt like it took a half hour to get through the crowd to the car. We helped B get her stuff to her van, getting her rolling cart through stones and sand is a two person job. I may have squeaked out a few more sales if I had stayed a little later (from 9-11pm is option for the artist to attend), but the crowds weren’t brisk enough to loose the sleep over, it is a long show and I need my beauty rest…