Pittsburg Craft Show

Well, a day or two before the craft show, I sent out an S.O.S. e-mail to see if anyone would be interested in coming and helping me at the craft show. I started thinking about setting up the canopy and my tables and such by myself and got a little panicked. My friend, Christy, called and said she'd like to come and help out. I was so relieved (and excited because I would have fun company all day, too). And, she said she'd like to come even though she would have to be at my house at 6:15 in the morning on a Saturday! Actually, after I e-mailed the same people to say that Christy was coming, a few people e-mailed back that they would have been interested, too. What sweet friends God has blessed me with!

So, at 6:15, the van was loaded and Christy and I headed to good ole Pittsburg, Texas, to the ChickFest. Now, ChickFest doesn't mean that a lot of talented and crafty chicks got together to sell their goods; it means Chick, like Chicken. Pittsburg, Texas is where Bo Pilgrim hangs his hat and his giant head statue. We even got to wave at Mr. Pilgrim during the parade that came right down the street where the vendors were set up. Kinda neat to not have to miss the parade.

The hardest part of set up was the canopy. A lady from the booth next to us (she was helping out a friend who sold knock-off purses) came over to lend a hand and to chat. She was friendly. The other lady, the actual seller, was quite interesting. She had a chip on her shoulder a mile wide and was quite predjudiced, too. Like I said, she was interesting. At one point, she was convinced she was having a heart attack and gave orders right and left to everyone within earshot. Within 10 minutes, she was up and lifting heavy things and griping again, so I guess it wasn't too scary.

Well, we started setting up a little after 7 and by about 7:45, we were finished. The weather was beautiful (although a little chilly for the first few hours).

People didn't really start milling around until around 9 or 9:30, so we had a lot of time to sit and chat.

The show was a little slower than I anticipated, but in the end, it was still worth my time. And, the weather was perfect, so I can't complain on that end. I did have one lady come by and ooh and aah and go looking for her daughter to come back with her. Then she and her daughter both oohed and aahed and said they'd be back with another daughter. I think they even found grandma to bring back, too. They came about 4 times throughout the day and that's always fun. We laughed each time she came back and she just grinned and found more things she liked. A group of college-age girls came by a few times, too, and we had fun chatting with them.

I was pleased with pretty much all the responses to the things I had for sale. I only had one person gripe about prices and it was that she didn't want to pay $4 for a pocket mirror for her friend. All in all, not too bad.

One lady really liked my Sisters Word Book and asked how quickly I could make about 8 for her and a bunch of girlfriends from her church. I almost laughed out loud and admitted that I'm pretty slow still and not the best of friends with my machine, at the moment. She laughed, too, and said she'd call me in the next few weeks. So, I ought to rescue my machine from time out in the guest room and start cutting again.

All in all, it was a fun day and a success in my book.

Dana came by and said hi with her beautiful and sweet family. She also had a camera... Here I am straightening up the tables. I'm glad people like to browse and when they leave, their browsing gives me something to do.


She also took pictures of my tables for me because I need to have some on hand (and, of course, I didn't bring my camera) for the craft fairs that like pictures when you apply for a booth. Unfortunately, when she came by, we had just had a rush of people and the tables are a little messy. Plus, we re-arranged just after the pictures were taken and moved one table to the other side of our booth. But, here's kinda what my booths look like:



I have another fair this weekend in Gladewater. It's a Saturday and Sunday affair. I didn't realize that when I signed up, but I don't skip church very often, I promise. I will be going with Allison, who actually paid for the booth, back before she decided to sell her beading business. Then when she called to cancel her booth, she had missed the deadline for cancellations by one day so she asked if I'd like to join her. She has a few premade jewelry items she can try to sell and said I can have the rest of her booth. Yay! So, we'll both be there and I know it'll be fun, even if it is a little long...

I'll be sure to bring my camera this time!