Sunday, May 03, 2009

Spring in Springfield Craft Show

Wow, so today was a bust. Here's how my day went:


6:15am: Hit snooze on the alarm.

7:00am: Drag myself out of bed to get ready and get the car loaded up with my booth display, tables, jewelry, etc. Wish and wish and wish that the rain stops soon.

8:15am: Pick up my awesome friend Christin who agreed to be my lovely assistant today. We both wish and wish and wish for the rain to stop soon.

9:30am: Get lost in North Jersey trying to navigate from directions that went something like, "Take exit 140 towards 82 East, but don't get on 82 East, take the second ramp to get back on the Parkway South, then make a turn-aroundy-thing that's supposed to be a traffic circle but is actually a traffic hexagon to get on 22 East--NO WAIT WEST! WE MEANT WEST!" Oh North Jersey, you slay me.

10:00am: Car is unloaded, so I try to drive it out of the street and bring it to the parking area. Get yelled at by a cop for not knowing I was supposed to go down to the other end of the street to exit. He saunters out to the middle of the intersection and makes a big show of looking in all directions at the zero cars anywhere in sight, and finally signals me to come through. Ignores my apology as I drive past and, I suspect, wishes me as long and miserable a day as he is having. Well, okay, maybe not. But I do suspect he is angry at being put on Stand Outside in the Rain at the Craft Show duty.

10:50am: 20 minutes past the time we were supposed to be set up by. We weren't even close. However, this is about the time we eventually gave up on finishing the set up. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS STILL POURING RAIN.

11:30am: 30 minutes after the show's official start time. Vendors have already begun to jump ship and swim away.

12:00pm: This is about when I made the first and only sale of the day. A $10 pair of pink gemstone heart earrings. Better something than nothing.

12:30pm: Three junior high kids come by and ooh and ahh over my $5 display. I silently will them to be my second sale. No luck, my mind powers are not yet strong enough. However, I do die a little inside that I've sunk to placing my hopes on junior high kids' allowance money to make back my booth fee.

1:00pm: My aunt and uncle come by to show their support and keep us company. We enjoy the rest of our time under the safety of the canopy until..

1:30pm: ..we realize we're one of maybe ten vendors left on the entire street. Ten vendors and the giant inflatable bouncy playground things which now basically might as well be Slip-n-Slides. It's a sad picture. We pack up, and in the process, we break a $10 donut pendant, thereby canceling out that first and only sale. I curse Springfield. Somewhere, that cop laughs.

3:30pm: Christin and I bury our sorrows with Chinese and brownie sundaes. My fortune cookie reads, "You have an important new business development shaping up." Really? I check the back to see if it gets any more specific. It does not. Thanks, Fortune Cookie, for the vague yet encouraging message.


So that was how I began this year's craft show season. Just superbly! At least I know it can't get any worse than this. Unless it's Neptune City Day, that is.