First show of the year

Saturday at the Birmingham Fine Art Fair reminded me of why I do this for a living. The weather was ideal for an art fair. Cool but sunny with just a little breeze for air movement. Although the crowds weren't as large as I remember in the past, there were lots of people walking the show.

First thing in the morning a wonderful woman who is a long-time customer came to see me. As she tried on jewelry she remarked on my e-mail announcement of the show! Since this is the first time I've sent out e-mail show reminders, I was thrilled!

For someone who tends to work "last minute" like I do, the e-mails will be perfect. I don't have to factor in the mail delays. I can add a picture of something wonderful that I just finished. Or advertise something new I'm doing. Besides, I love both sending and receiving (good) e-mails so this fits right in.

Back to the show. So as wonderful as Saturday was, Sunday was the opposite. I made Michael get up really early to get to the show and get a decent parking place since it was supposed to rain. Okay, so we got there probably 90 minutes earlier than we had to but the last time I was there, everyone got there really early! And I wanted a good parking place for take down!

What I didn't know was that take down was going to be many hours earlier than planned. It was raining really hard and the wind was starting to pick up which makes me fret (I'll write about why later). The show director was in constant contact with us and finally came around to say it was up to us whether to stay or go. The person next to me was taking the brunt of the wind so when they started taking down, so did I. There were no customers there and it was 46 and raining. Home sounded much better.

Taking down a show is never really easy but doing it in a hard rain without the van right there is more of a challenge. Then being cold on top of it. My friend David and daughter Abbie came over and helped me take off my canopy top and fold it up and then broke down the poles. That was a HUGE help since by that time, I had enough. As I said to David, it's days like this that make me want to get a "real" job!

So I pour myself into the van, stuffed full of wet things, soaked all the way through from top to bottom and freezing. Turned my seat heat on high and the temp in the van to 84 and headed for home. 2 1/2 hours later, still wet but slightly warmer, I got home. Boy did it look good. I like shows that are close to home!

Now my first show of the year is over. I saw one the best weather days and one not so great but not even close to the worst. I had some sales and people seemed to like my new work. It's only the beginning since my next show is in 4 days...