This past weekend, I was doing a show. It was one of those strange weekends, a comedy of errors, if you like. It seemed like everything was going wrong.
Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the misery was spread out amongst several vendors.
Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the misery was spread out amongst several vendors.
It started out in the morning with setup. The show promoters had placed the booth spaces so they were more toward the middle of the street. This left much less room for our vehicles to drive in to unload. Many artists had to wait for other cars to get out of the way before they could get to their booths. One artist was trying to squeeze her truck into a tight space and backed into another vehicle. Thankfully, there was no damage. That's one big reason why I always try to get to a show before the specified setup time.
After unloading and moving my car, I went to help a fellow artist who was trying to put up a dome style canopy by herself. Almost impossible to do. That's why I have developed my booth setup so that I can do it all by myself and in a reasonable amount of time.
This same flustered artist experienced the first mishap of the show. Her display table fell over sending frames flying and glass breaking. That's why all of my display fixtures are very stable and either they are weighted down, or they are attached to the tent frame.
Not to be outdone, one of my other booth neighbors experienced similar problems. It was her first outdoor show. She had a tent with no sides and no weights, so the afternoon winds went whistling through her booth, shifting her tent around and dumping her precariously displayed frames to the asphalt. That's why I attach weights to my tent even if the wind is calm in the morning.
Another booth neighbor wasn't prepared for the weather. It was a picture perfect sunny California day. She was wearing a tank top and was starting to turn a pale shade of red. That's why I am always prepared with several layers of clothing, a hat, and sunscreen.
There were lots of other minor mishaps throughout the weekend. I won't go into the details. However, there is one more that I need to talk about. It was an incident that the police got involved with.
My next door booth neighbor was burglarized. She was helping a "customer" who distracted her. The "customer" was able to take the cashbox without the artist's knowledge. It was toward the end of the day, so the artist's entire take for the day was in that cashbox along with her $300 for making change. That's why I don't use a cashbox. I keep a very small amount of money in an envelope for making change, and all of my take goes into my pockets or other hidden places. Also, you really don't need $300 for making change. $50 at most is sufficient.
Well, this sure wasn't a boring weekend. I would have preferred to say that it was interesting because of all the sales that I made. But, at least I came home with more cash than when I started. And, that's the reason for doing a show, isn't it?
After unloading and moving my car, I went to help a fellow artist who was trying to put up a dome style canopy by herself. Almost impossible to do. That's why I have developed my booth setup so that I can do it all by myself and in a reasonable amount of time.
This same flustered artist experienced the first mishap of the show. Her display table fell over sending frames flying and glass breaking. That's why all of my display fixtures are very stable and either they are weighted down, or they are attached to the tent frame.
Not to be outdone, one of my other booth neighbors experienced similar problems. It was her first outdoor show. She had a tent with no sides and no weights, so the afternoon winds went whistling through her booth, shifting her tent around and dumping her precariously displayed frames to the asphalt. That's why I attach weights to my tent even if the wind is calm in the morning.
Another booth neighbor wasn't prepared for the weather. It was a picture perfect sunny California day. She was wearing a tank top and was starting to turn a pale shade of red. That's why I am always prepared with several layers of clothing, a hat, and sunscreen.
There were lots of other minor mishaps throughout the weekend. I won't go into the details. However, there is one more that I need to talk about. It was an incident that the police got involved with.
My next door booth neighbor was burglarized. She was helping a "customer" who distracted her. The "customer" was able to take the cashbox without the artist's knowledge. It was toward the end of the day, so the artist's entire take for the day was in that cashbox along with her $300 for making change. That's why I don't use a cashbox. I keep a very small amount of money in an envelope for making change, and all of my take goes into my pockets or other hidden places. Also, you really don't need $300 for making change. $50 at most is sufficient.
Well, this sure wasn't a boring weekend. I would have preferred to say that it was interesting because of all the sales that I made. But, at least I came home with more cash than when I started. And, that's the reason for doing a show, isn't it?
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