Saturday, September 25, I got to spend the day with my friend, J. She has a wonderful sense of humor, and is very positive about my running efforts, so naturally I was happy to be able to spend 6 hours in her company. She had called me several months previously to tell me about her town’s Fall Fair, and to see if I would like to join her at a table, hawking our wares. I agreed immediately and started to get ideas on what I could sell. Should I do individual cards, card sets, or making something completely different, but still paper-crafted?
I think coming up with fun new card ideas was the true highlight of these past few months. Then in the last few weeks, every time I had a minute, I would run upstairs and work on my cards. I ended up doing card sets, packaging them in the containers my stamp sets came in. I did mostly generic cards that I sold with different sentiments the person could attach according to their need. I also made tons of very small cards, about the size that come when you get a bouquet of flowers. The Swiss are super polite, and always bring flowers or wine when they come to your house for dinner. I thought those would be a big hit, especially since I priced them pretty cheaply.
Anyway, the morning of the fair, I got up bright and early (for a Saturday) and headed over to J.’s house. Chris dropped me off, and then her husband drove us down to where all the tables were set up. Several people were already there, setting up these elaborate booths filled with all kinds of wares. We were happy to see that our rented booth came with a canvas cover, as it was raining pretty steadily. We proceeded to lay out everything on the table, using a borrowed tablecloth from a friend as a backdrop. J. makes these gorgeous pen and watercolor sketches that she was hoping to sell. Some she had shrunk down and put on to Christmas cards, others were larger, and suitable for framing. All were local scenes from her town, in different seasons of the year. I thought they were quite clever, and competitively priced. She also had some funny Christmas cards that she had made a couple years previous, for our last shared craft fair. I was her best customer, and I sold nothing of my stuff. So, we had no high expectations at all, and were just looking to gain some experience and have a bit of a laugh hanging out together. Of course, that fair was in a lovely heated hall…
So I mentioned that steady rain already. But I forgot to say that it was cold. See your breath as it comes out of your mouth cold. And every once in a while a wind would come blowing through that made it feel absolutely Antarcticish. The other booths were obviously run by seasoned veterans as most of them had huge plastic sheets wrapped around their entire booth, blocking out the wind and rain, and trapping in any available heat. Not so with us. Although the camp chairs she had brought for us to sit on were the height of luxury, they eventually filled with rain. And even the plastic bags she had brought for us to sit on were no match for the continual onslaught of water. My rear end was completely soaked for the last 4.5 hours we sat there. At least it became completey numb from the cold and hence impervious to the sensation of wet after about an hour. Silver linings and all that, I guess.
Oh, and that awesome rain that kept falling and falling and falling without the tiniest bit of a letup? It not only froze our fingers and toes, it also did a fantastic job of keeping away the purchasing public. The few brave souls who did come out to the fair used our booth as the turnaround spot. As in they would stroll down the street as far as our booth, cast us a quick glance and then mutter to their companions, “There’s nothing here, let’s turn around and go back.” Gee, thanks. From the other direction we got the entertainment of cars using our booth as the spot where they finally accepted that the street was indeed closed to through traffic, and they were forced to back up and make their escape. Nothing like spending 6 hours being the spot no one wants to be at! 🙂
But it wasn’t all bad. Like I said, J. is a very fun lady, so it’s hard to be bored hanging out with her. And then her daughter came and completely saved the day. C.’s Girl Scout troop was walking around the fair selling cakes and popcorn to raise money for their next year’s activities. She got bored doing that and offered to take around a sampling of our cards to sell to the people who were congregated in a different part of the fair. You know, the part with some hot food and protection from the wind and rain. We readily agreed and loaded up her box with a good mix of our wares. And she was off.
She came back a bit later with the fantastic news that she had sold several of her mother’s cards, and needed some more. Then she took off again, to sell those as well. She called on the phone to see if I would sell some of my cards individually, rather than in sets, which of course I agreed to do. She ended up selling $23.00 worth of cares for me, and I don’t know how much for her mother. We realized about halfway through that she was still wearing her Girl Scout scarf, and people may have thought she was selling the cards for her troop. But at that point, we didn’t really care and were just happy to finally have a bit of success. Cute, fearless almost 12 year old girls are awesome salespeople! 🙂
My family came and picked up at 2 o’clock, and I felt so bad leaving J. there all alone in the cold and wet. But there was a big reunion in Chris’ old ward in Dornbirn, Austria that afternoon and he really wanted us to go. So I bid her farewell and said a prayer in my heart that she would be okay. She told me the next day that she stayed until 3 and then packed it all up and went home. The official closing time of the fair was 4, but honestly, there is only so much a human body can withstand. I was so glad she had left early, it eased my guilt a bit. I mean seriously, it took me the entire drive to Austria in stop and go traffic, with two coats wrapped over me and the seat warmer cranked up to 5 to finally feel like I was warmed up sufficiently. It was that cold. And she had great news! A Good Samaritan had come by after I left and bought two full sets of my cards. Woohoo! Oh, and she was a true Samaritan, she had a band and everything. 🙂
So would I do it again? Yes! The company was great and I acquired lots of experience about what sells and what doesn’t, and how to set up a table and what to bring to make the day more comfortable. But I would also wear a thicker coat and my winter boots. And thermal underwear. And gloves. And a scarf. And a hat. And top it all off with a nice thick blanket. 🙂