First Fall Fair

Only signed on for three arts and crafts fairs this fall and the first of them was Pumpkin Patch, Oct. 2 and 3 in a town just 40 miles from me. It has been a good show for me in the past and in spite of the current economy, it didn't disappoint this year either. We set up early Friday morning, starting a little before 6:00 a.m., sell from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Friday, then back again from 9:00a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. It's a lot of hours but the schedule seems to catch just about anyone who would want to attend at some time during the two days.

The site for the show is the county fair grounds and Steve and I always set up in one of the out buildings. The building is used for livestock during the fair, so only has solid wall halfway up, but has a roof and a paved pathway down the center of each aisle. It can be chilly, but if you come prepared, it's not a bad space to set up. We hang tarps and put down ground cloth to help cut down wind and dust. Thank goodness we do, because Friday the winds were horrible. We had 30 to 40 mph winds all day long! My display stayed pretty secure but we didn't get the placement of the tarp quite right on Steve's side and he lost several framed photos to the wind gusts.

Over the two days I sold probably three fourths of my floral items which was excellent since they were all fall pieces and I probably won't take much in the way of fall arrangements to my next shows. But the most exciting sale was the sale of my turquoise necklace, Shades of the Southwest. I rarely sell any pieces locally in the above $50.00 range so when my most expensive piece is purchased it's truely a red letter day! And the same purchaser bought beadwoven earrings to match. Several beadwoven bracelets, a couple more necklaces and quite a few earrings went home with new owners, too. It was so strange that we had a larger crowd on Saturday but I had larger sales on Friday. Guess they had to be serious buyers to brave that ghastly wind!!