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Craft Show #4: Broadneck
The weather sucks. That's my simple opinion.
It was raining already when I tiptoed around the house - and CJ thundered around it - trying not to wake the nephews as I loaded out. It was raining hard by the time Scott (the office's junior paralegal) and I arrived at Broadneck High near Annapolis. Fortunately, there was a swarm of teenagers wanting to help, so instead of dragging the cart out in the rain and mud, I just handed off things to kids. All I carried in was my bag and our sodas. Scott drove the van out of the way while I started sorting things, and the setup was finished barely in time. (At least I showed; it looked like 10-20% of vendors no-showed.) Not much traffic at first, so I was able to walk Scott through the basics.
Then things got way crazy. Both of us were working frantically trying to help everyone and while I think we got most people, we probably missed a few. And we missed A LOT of sales notes. I try to write down everything I sell, but we were both too busy to even think about doing that for almost an hour, and neither of us could remember all that was sold. I moved a whopping one print and 3 sports plaques, no animal plaques at all, so it was almost entirely ornaments and mostly the big teams. I nearly ran out of the Redskins and Steelers and the Ravens supply is severely diminished. But I don't know just how much went and therefore, no clue what the final sales total was. What is certain is that it was the best show for total sales I've ever had, based on what we DID remember long enough to write down. In some cases, the buyer was more interesting than what they bought: an 'NCIS Fans Only' plaque was bought by...an NCIS agent. And a Phillies ornament was purchased by a player's grandma - Brian Schneider, the newest Philly. I talked to Brian many a time when he was an Expos farmhand, so I told Grandma to tell Brian the ornament was from a Baysox fan. He should like that :)
Then come noon and some young kids came running in very excited - IT'S SNOWING! And just like that, the shoppers stopped. From chaos to a steady slow stream almost instantly, and the stream disappeared entirely long before the show ended. Dang snow. I bet I would have cleared a grand without it. It was only sticking on grass and cars when we loaded out, but that still meant cleaning off the van a couple times. There weren't as many kids either, just two, but they helped Scott carry everything out while I sorted the van. I probably would be a total wreck now had Scott not helped out, he was a lifesaver. Then the real fun began - trying to drive home in the slush and sleet. I wasn't a quarter mile from Scott's when a windshield wiper fell off the car (I was able to repair on my own, but got soaked all over again doing it.) Home just before 5. Long day. Sore shoulders. Full cash box. I think next week, rather than keep searching for a show, I'll just sit on the wait-list shows. If this show lost that many vendors, I'll probably get a call. And if I don't get called, well, my inventory's pretty blitzed anyway. Only time to refresh the 3 teams that are almost gone and can't even think about the lesser known teams that are completely gone.
Now, very tired.
It was raining already when I tiptoed around the house - and CJ thundered around it - trying not to wake the nephews as I loaded out. It was raining hard by the time Scott (the office's junior paralegal) and I arrived at Broadneck High near Annapolis. Fortunately, there was a swarm of teenagers wanting to help, so instead of dragging the cart out in the rain and mud, I just handed off things to kids. All I carried in was my bag and our sodas. Scott drove the van out of the way while I started sorting things, and the setup was finished barely in time. (At least I showed; it looked like 10-20% of vendors no-showed.) Not much traffic at first, so I was able to walk Scott through the basics.
Then things got way crazy. Both of us were working frantically trying to help everyone and while I think we got most people, we probably missed a few. And we missed A LOT of sales notes. I try to write down everything I sell, but we were both too busy to even think about doing that for almost an hour, and neither of us could remember all that was sold. I moved a whopping one print and 3 sports plaques, no animal plaques at all, so it was almost entirely ornaments and mostly the big teams. I nearly ran out of the Redskins and Steelers and the Ravens supply is severely diminished. But I don't know just how much went and therefore, no clue what the final sales total was. What is certain is that it was the best show for total sales I've ever had, based on what we DID remember long enough to write down. In some cases, the buyer was more interesting than what they bought: an 'NCIS Fans Only' plaque was bought by...an NCIS agent. And a Phillies ornament was purchased by a player's grandma - Brian Schneider, the newest Philly. I talked to Brian many a time when he was an Expos farmhand, so I told Grandma to tell Brian the ornament was from a Baysox fan. He should like that :)
Then come noon and some young kids came running in very excited - IT'S SNOWING! And just like that, the shoppers stopped. From chaos to a steady slow stream almost instantly, and the stream disappeared entirely long before the show ended. Dang snow. I bet I would have cleared a grand without it. It was only sticking on grass and cars when we loaded out, but that still meant cleaning off the van a couple times. There weren't as many kids either, just two, but they helped Scott carry everything out while I sorted the van. I probably would be a total wreck now had Scott not helped out, he was a lifesaver. Then the real fun began - trying to drive home in the slush and sleet. I wasn't a quarter mile from Scott's when a windshield wiper fell off the car (I was able to repair on my own, but got soaked all over again doing it.) Home just before 5. Long day. Sore shoulders. Full cash box. I think next week, rather than keep searching for a show, I'll just sit on the wait-list shows. If this show lost that many vendors, I'll probably get a call. And if I don't get called, well, my inventory's pretty blitzed anyway. Only time to refresh the 3 teams that are almost gone and can't even think about the lesser known teams that are completely gone.
Now, very tired.