I suppose many sellers, of anything hand crafted, would be really upset to spend weeks and weeks getting ready for a show, to get there, and sell not one single thing. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. I had mostly a very nice time at the show, finally got to meet some of my local BEST ( Baltimore Etsy Street Team) members and I did have loads of complements on my jewelry from festival goers.
So here's my booth, then I'll tell you a bit of the story, some of it should give you a chuckle.
That's my teammate Abby working away behind my booth. I shared with Abby, who makes beautiful purses, and Kelly who makes these great kitchy anime polymer clay charms and necklaces that are so colorful and bright!
So the funny part first. The show was in historic Gettysburg, PA. If you've never visited, it really should go on your bucket list. Great town and the historic battlefield tours and reinactments are wonderful for families to enjoy and learn about our history. I only live 45 minutes away if there is heavy traffic, but I decided to get a room so I could be up and ready to set up for the first time ever. At 3 AM I awoke on Saturday and I had left all my money at home- no change, no cash sales. Up at 5 and down the road I went. Got money, got back to Gettysburg at 6:45 AM. Yes, I drove fast, but not too fast. So funny, I never needed a dime!
I never did have a chance to set up ahead of time for a trial run, but the experience of setting up was made far easier by teammates to give advice on how to keep things from blowing over and arranging things so they would actually get seen. I had help from my aspiring metals teammate Amy on how to display my stone pendants and I really liked the frame and stand I found to show them off! Earrings, rings, bangles and cuffs sort of took care of themselves!
The sad part of the day was the Arts Festival had moved from a busy touristy downtown location with 4000 visitors last year to a lovely spacious college campus grounds this year- with no signage anywhere in town to let anyone know we were even there! So, very few visitors, good bands played all day. My booth mates were chatty and friendly and our neighboring BEST teammates visited and chatted as well. It did get hotter than Hades at the end of the afternoon, which being a northerner, is never good on my sunny disposition.
I came home very tired, a little disappointed I didn't sell anything, but very happy to have had the experience so I know what to expect when I can find a nice air conditioned indoor show to attend!
