Hello friends! It's been a while since I've made a blog post; I know. I've been non-stop prepping for markets left and right.
Since making my last blog post, I partook in my first juried arts festival! Glen Park was absolutely wonderful and I'm already looking forward to next year! Despite the rain monsoon we experienced on Saturday, we still saw dedicated shoppers out and about supporting us through the dreariness. It truly warmed my heart to see true patrons of the arts not afraid of mother nature.
When I first started vending, I was only 19 years old so things like rain and wind used to get me down so bad. I couldn't hold back from showing my defeat all over my face. However, now turning 24 in September, we've learned to not only roll with the punches mother nature sometimes throws, but also actually learned tips and tricks from fellow vendors in the business that have been doing this for 30+ years. I won't lie, I had moments of panic if I didn't already have a plan in mind for that specific scenario but I'm usually quick on my feet and it only took me about 30 seconds to come up with a quick solution. Sometimes you have to abandon the idea of things looking pretty and figure out how to stay dry and set up.
I'm very grateful the wind wasn't too bad but my sandbag method tied on the top worked great for the few wind gusts my little corner did see! My walls for the tent are actually only sun walls so they don't come to a complete close around the corners. I was smart and checked the weather ahead of time so I brought a tarp in case I needed to burrito wrap the backside so we could stay dry. It seemed to be raining straight for the most part so I only ended up using it to wrap one corner I was using to cash people out. It was coming down so hard though that if we weren't paying attention, we'd have massive puddles in the canopy roof that would soak through the material and start dripping on us. Luckily, no rips!
I'm eternally grateful for the few vendors that told me about Camp Dry! I am 100% heading to the store to get some to spray my canopy and walls for my next show. If you're unfamiliar, it's waterproofing spray designed for your camping gear. I actually doubted it at first thinking it wouldn't really hold up but after hearing so many great testimonies, I have to snag some and try it for myself! I'm also planning on investing in some nice zip walls once I see a nice return again. I saw a lot of fellow vendors around me with those and also using clamps to keep it tight around the tent frame. That really seemed to keep things dry for them. We didn't lose any products though which is awesome! Tablecloths got wet from perpetual drips but other than that, we held up nicely! I did learn I need to start packing a second outfit or start dressing in layers because I could have used pants on Saturday and some shorts on Sunday. LOL.
Sunday was INSANE. There were so many people and I was so grateful I got there at 7:15am so I was pretty much set up by 9am. I had people walking and looking around 9:30 and made my first sale of the day at 9:50am when the festival started at 10am. It was the best I've ever done at a market and all of you truly humbled me with how much you loved my creations. I know I already personally said thank you to all of you but again, THANK YOU for all the beautiful friendly faces I saw between both days. Most of y'all I haven't seen in at least over a year and it was soooo nice to catch up and hear about what you all are getting up to nowadays!
To all the new friends I made over the weekend, thank you for coming out and supporting my dream! I hope you love everything as much as I do and I'm sure all my previous customers and friends can tell you if you ever have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out! I always want to make sure you guys have the best experience shopping with me and even though I'm a tiny gal, I try my damn tootin' hardest to be both size and gender inclusive!
With that last part being said, I have some exciting news for everyone! You all loved the one of a kind merch so much that I'm doubling down on it for Carnegie Art Spree! I could only find 3x in the biggest size last time but I'm going to try and find larger so I can be even more inclusive. I had quite a few men stop to check out the merch (specifically the ram skull; how could you not?) and I made the rookie mistake of only thinking about the ladies so we are going to get shop the men's section to get some gender neutral clothing on deck! Lastly, my sister offered up my niece as a model so I'm also going to be doing youth sizes as well! I'm definitely going to need a couple more clothing racks for Carnegie.
I'll leave you guys on the note of my next big festival being Carnegie Art Spree on Saturday August 19th and Sunday August 20th both days running from 10am to 4pm. That's where you'll be able to find a fresh restock of new one-of-a-kind clothing!