an outdoor show

I was asked to participate in a local artisans and crafters outdoor festival this weekend. I have never done an outdoor event, nor did I particularly want to, but decided that this was a good opportunity for me to try something new, to see how it might work. I bought a tent and spent the past two weeks feverishly working on building an inventory of cards and prints of my collages, printing out labels and packaging everything up. Bought a tent. Decided to use my quilts as tablecloths for the tables. Colorful.

Friday's set-up: No neighbors yet. I left only the furniture, curtains, and tablecloths/quilts in the tent overnight (closed-up tent, of course; weighted down).

Saturday morning: This is what it looked like at 7 a.m. The boxes of stuff in the foreground are my neighbor's on this side. Then there is my collapsed tent with the furniture partly moved to set up the tent again. It had rained overnight, with heavy winds. This event is being held on a hill and our line of tents was at the end of the driveway, a tunnel for the moving wind from the west (in this photo, we are looking north). Beyond me are three more collapsed tents, then one standing, then two more down. Everything is sopping wet.

Saturday, a couple of hours later: I'm all set up again. But notice the bulging left side on my tent and on the one to my right. The wind kept blowing and blowing, getting stronger all day, up to about 20 mph. Everything was blowing down. Both tents on either side of me collapsed again. I took mine down at around 1 pm and was moved to a gazebo on a sheltered side of the main barn on the festival property.

I traded one $9 card for a couple of wooden puzzles with a woman who makes them.
I sold one $3.25 card to the husband of a friend.

The weather for Sunday, today, is forecast to be like Saturday but cooler and maybe less rain (yes, it rained during the day, too). I decided not to go back. Cut my losses. Clean up the chaos in the house instead.

And so that is my first outdoor festival experience. Possibly my last.