This post is the culmination of a great deal of work by many people. And as I hope you will agree, it was well worth the effort!
Serving Trays were just the beginning point for me. The goal was to offer fully customizable Charcuterie Kits at my first event in 2023: the California Artisan Cheese Festival in Santa Rosa in just 2 weeks. As the pictures attest, I am ready.
You start with a Serving Tray … see them described, and see them very naked, here. This page is all about dressing them up.
Charcuterie is classically a collection of smoked meats and cheeses served to the delight of hungry people everywhere. The idea is really trending now, and people are taking the excuse of having a nice serving piece to do all sorts of offerings on a lovely serving board. To complete the presentation, I have collaborated with my good friend and potter, Nicole, the owner of NZ Designs Studio. She is also the maker of the Great Garlic Graters that are on my Garlic Dipping Boards, which continue to be a favorite.
After more than a few discussions about what would be ideal, she has made 4″ bowls – or ramekins, if you prefer – in 3 shapes and 4 colors (well, 5 colors. She’s an over-achiever.) that can be purchased at events for inclusion with your Charcuterie Kit. In addition, she has made very cute meat and cheese tags to identify some of the classic Charcuterie that you will probably be serving.
Then I went shopping and found sets of stainless Cheese Knife Sets that I am also offering to help complete your presentation.
You get to pick and choose among the options … but let’s not get ahead of the idea. The best way to understand this idea is to see it. I gathered family, friends and collaborators to create some unique and tasty boards for your consideration.
A big thanks to the food stylists and helpers that made this happen. I appreciated the eaters that helped when the work was done, too!
Nicole’s bowls are Red, White, Blue, Green … and Purple. You can go all matchy matchy, or buy your ramekins in all different shapes & colors. We did it both ways on the boards pictured. You get to choose what you like best.
Here are simpler pictures showing just the Serving Trays in the 3 sizes, along with the bowls in all of their colors. The knife set is also shown; a great matched set of 6 knives with spreaders, choppers, forks … just what you need to do anything from cut a hard cheese, spread a soft one, or pick an olive out of the bowl.
To purchase a serving tray, go here. If you want a charcuterie kit, or any of the pieces offered that tickle your fancy, then you’ll need to email me and we can work out the details. I will warn you that nothing will ship until late April. That’s good: you get to choose what you most like, and I will make sure you get exactly what you want.
It’s good to get things out of my head. These Serving Trays were a long time coming.
I knew I wanted to make trays with sides on them. That’s a classic serving piece, and I’m all about serving pieces. I needed to do serving trays. Finally, I found the way.
Serving trays are in 3 sizes: 12″x12″, 13-1/2″ x 19″ and 15″ x 24″. Small, medium and large. The 3 trays nest together nicely for easy storage, if you are so inclined. Sides provide 1-1/2″ of wall around the bottom of the tray, helping you corral whatever you might be putting on the trays.
Construction details are robust: all hardwood construction (naturally). The corners are connected with sturdy box joints. The bottoms, 3/8″ thick (and again, all hardwood), are captured in dados on the ends and sides for reliable load carrying. These trays are meant to be heirloom additions to your home.
The sides & ends are made of one of these three woods: Hard Maple (the lightest color), Cherry and Sapele (a very pretty dark brown wood, AKA African Mahogany). The bottoms are matched in some cases, and stripey in others. You can mix and match your set of 3 if you wish.
The initial thought for these trays was for them to be the base of Charcuterie Kits, and indeed, they are. If you want to see some pretty pictures of Charcuterie done at VMICA (the Velda Mowry Institute of Culinary Arts), then you can go here.
If you would like to purchase, that link is here. Please note that orders can be placed today, but I do not expect to ship until the end of April. The good news is you can order exactly what you want. The bad news is … exactly what you want takes time. My job is to make sure there is a smile on your face when you finally get to see your new Serving Tray!
Here are my current signs, in a slide show. And lower on the page … NEW SIGNS coming for this holiday season.
CNC Sign 20 – 141 – In Wine
CNC Sign 19 – 750 Let Food
CNC Sign 19 – 745 Coffee Def
CNC Sign 19 – 742 If More of us Valued
CNC Sign 19 – 739 Why Limit
CNC Sign 19 – 741 Many Have
CNC Sign 19 – 738 Too Much
CNC Sign 19 – 731 You Don’t
CNC Sign 19 – 725 People Who Love
CNC Sign 19 – 724 You Don’t Have To
CNC Sign 19 – 708 – Chicken
CNC Sign 19 – 706 If You Really
CNC Sign 19 – 705 – Only A Fool
CNC Sign 19 – 702 – Too Lazy
CNC Sign 18 – 115 Tell Me What Brand
CNC Sign 18 – 99 Cooking
CNC Sign 18 – 99 The Secret Ingredient is Always
CNC Sign 18 – 55. Hard Maple. 9″ x 14″.
CNC Sign 18 – 57. Hard Maple. 10″ x 16″.
CNC Sign 18 – 48. Cherry. 12″ x 16″.
CNC Sign 18 – 45. Hard Maple. 10″ x 14″.
CNC Sign 18 – 19. Hard Maple. 10″ x 18″.
CNC Sign 18 – 12. Hard Maple. 12″ x 16″.
These are software renderings of the new signs that are currently in production in the shop. The images are not entirely accurate, but they are the best I have at this point.
Not all of these signs are currently shown for sale on my retail site, but if you don’t find a sign that you want, just email me and I can do a special order for you. Here is the retail site for your review: www.MrMsWoodshop.com.
Little Girl was marrying E, and I asked if they wanted me to build anything for their wedding.
The answer was yes, and I got a to do list that was 3 items long:
A board for guests to sign. A keepsake.
Sets of candle holders to decorate the reception.
A heptagonal arch for the wedding ceremony.
I decided to make all 3 items out of white oak. I start with lumber.
No, this was not all of the lumber. I ended up getting a whole lot more lumber before it was all built.
The sign-in board was a simple 24″ circle, cut on the CNC. I then went to my buddy the flag maker, who used his laser engraver to cut words out of 1/8″ ply. Those were spray painted burnt umber with an acrylic spray, and then mounted on the piece. The whole assembly got a top coat of rattle can lacquer.
The time consuming project was making candle holders. I made 12 sets of 3 … so 36x pieces with 4 sides, 1 shelf and 16 accent pieces. Each. That’s a lot of pieces. The lumber had to be planed down to 1/2″ thick, so I generated a lot of sawdust on this project.
A lot of sawdust.
These candle holders are one of my favorite projects, actually; I first made them about 10 years ago for Christmas presents.
I have learned a bit and upgraded the garage shop since then, thankfully, so the lumber went from track saw to table saw to planer to table saw to CNC to router table to assembly.
A unique part of this project is how you assemble the sides that have chamfered edges to fit perfectly into a square without showing the wooden edges. No nails are used, just glue. And how do you join slippery sides of a square together without nails?
You rubber band them together until the glue dries.
Then you do the same process for the Walnut accent pieces, rubber banding them into place until that glue dries. The raw wood was then finished, again, with rattle can lacquer.
The biggest project in many ways was making the 7-sided arch, AKA a heptagon or a septagon. Internal height had to be big enough for E to be nicely framed … so 78″ it was.
Luckily, there are some handy polygon calculators on the interweb thingy that told me what I needed. Each side was 3′ – 7″, and every angle had to be 128-5/7 degrees. Simple, right? Of course, the miter gauge only has degrees, not sevenths of a degree. Time for some fancy footwork. Apparently.
The sides of the arch were configured with 3 lengths of lumber connecting to 2 lengths of lumber using finger joints and bolts to hold it together. I nailed pieces in place to reinforce each joint so that the angles would not vary one-seventh of a degree from the design. The joinery was important, as the arch had to come apart for transport.
And the heptagon would be assembled and installed by the venue’s staff, as I was to be elsewhere. I was told that I would be elsewhere a few times, so I knew it was true. And since I was to be elsewhere, I labeled each joint with a letter so if they put joint “A” together with the other part of joint “A,” all would be well.
The base was the final piece I made, and required a lot of head time to visualize what was needed. Because 7 is an odd number – stay with me here – the finger joints had to be 3 fingers on one side and 2 fingers on the other in order to mate up with the other 6 pieces of the heptagon. After a lot of staring at the wall time, I finally got simple and made the bottom with 5 pieces of lumber all the same size – but sticking out 3 fingers on one side and 2 fingers on the other. It was simple, but it was not simple to me on July 20. And the wedding was August 5.
The base was destined to be buried in the sand, but it had to have the structural integrity to both support the heptagon sticking 7′ into the air … and not blow over if an ocean breeze decided to attend the wedding. So, as I am sure you can see, I felt no pressure as I made up this plan staring at the wall.
Finish was brush on urethane, suitable for outdoor applications. The heptagon is destined to take up residence in the back yard of the Kenderas when they build out that landscaping … but first, the heptagonal arch had an important date with a beach.
Yes, I used that funny French word that people have trouble pronouncing. The word means smoked meats … and, when in France, you go to a “charcuterie” to buy, uh, smoked meats.
Why did that become the word we use for cheese & cracker platters?
’cause it’s fancy. “Fancy like Applebees,” as Walker Hayes recently sang (link below).
But I digress. Now that we’ve got our groove on, it’s time to talk about these new boards that have a couple of unique stories to go with.
First, I am pleased to present several boards made from Olive wood, which is new to the Woodshop. After years of searching, I just had to go out the front door to get this wood … when we bought the house in 1988, there was an ornamental olive tree in the front yard. The kids climbed in it growing up. Pretty tree, and a great climbing tree, to boot. But, sadly, the tree died several years ago. I had a crew out to remove the tree … and leave me the good logs. I then went to my buddy Charlie to “slab” the logs and branches that were usable. The ends got painted with a latex/wax combination so the wood would dry slowly and not crack. The wood then got stickered (small boards between the Olive pieces to allow good air flow for even drying) and then I left the wood in my storage unit to dry out. I didn’t touch the boards for 18 months.
Eventually, the boards came back to the shop for processing … and, time being what it is, I didn’t touch them for another 2 years.
But then the stars aligned, and I made the boards you see below. These are live edge pieces, meaning the actual edges of the natural tree – maybe even the bark! – is the edge of the board. About half of these pieces are finished with mineral oil and board butter, as I do all of my pieces that are destined to touch food.
Until now, that is. Some of the boards had knots, voids and cracks that needed attention, and needed filling since they were destined to be serving pieces. I reached into the bag o’tricks, and here are my first boards with epoxy filled, mica-colored accents. These boards were then finished with a Urethane top coat.
As is normal for me, all boards got non-skid rubber feet held on with stainless steel screws.
Two of the boards are made from live edge Black Walnut. My niece – the namesake for the “Kaye’s Board” end grain design that is a personal favorite – found a sawyer near Cameron, MO that had processed some lovely Black Walnut lumber and was willing to let me bring 5 boards back to the Woodshop.
So, new lumber. New finishing. New, as it often does, also means Mrs M had to have some.
But, good news, she decided to not be greedy and I do have some left for your consideration. These are, obviously, very unique, one-of-a-kind pieces. Please note that all sizes are approximate. Every board was finished to get the most out of the wood that was available, so they are not perfect rectangles. They are natural.
I have already heard from several people that want some, and 3 ladies are first in line (Jeri G, Reva W, Sue E in that order). Boards that I still have will go with me this 4th of July weekend to the Art In The Park event in Morro Bay, CA. Want to buy one? Email me at Henry@MowryWoodshop.com. You’ll need to tell me the number of the board(s) you want, and please give alternate choices if you have some. I will send you an invoice, and then ship the boards to you after the holiday.
Charcuterie 22 – 114. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 21″ x 5″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 111. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 17″ x 9″ x 3/4″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 109. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 21″ x 7″ x 3/4″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 107. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 16″ x 6″ x 1″. $90.
Charcuterie 22 – 105. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 20″ x 8″ x 1″. Added to the Mowry collection.
Charcuterie 22 – 103. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 17″ x 7″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 115. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 16″ x 5″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 117. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 15″ x 12″ x 1″. $125.
Charcuterie 22 – 104. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 20″ x 8″ x 3/4″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 106. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 19″ x 9″ x 1″. $125.
Charcuterie 22 – 102. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 21″ x 7″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 113. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 20″ x 7″ x 3/4″. Added to Mrs M’s private collection.
Charcuterie 22 – 101. 19″ x 7″ x 3/4″. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. $90.
Charcuterie 22 – 108. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 19″ x 9″ x 1″. $125.
Charcuterie 22 – 112. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 16″ x 6″ x 1″. Added to the Mowry collection.
Charcuterie 22 – 116. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 20″ x 6″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 118. Black Walnut with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 12″ x 12″ x 5/8″. $85.
Charcuterie 22 – 110. Black Walnut with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 21″ x 10″ x 5/8″. $100.
I make these Deviled Egg Platters to help make the world a better place. They are difficult to make: each one takes 9 hours to carve on my CNC. It takes about 90 minutes to hog out most of the waste with a 1/4″ end mill, and then a 1/16″ tapered ballnose bit advances 1/100″ with each pass to make the egg cups as smooth as possible.
Labor of Love, they are.
Here are the latest 11 that I have completed. 2 are already gone. The 9 remaining will be going to Bishop Mule Days over Memorial Day weekend … so if you would like one of these for your holiday table, speak now and I will get it shipped to you, no problem.
When I started making these, everyone called them surfboards.
They aren’t really shaped like surfboards, but they have a certain curvy shape that takes people there.
But, then I started making actual surfboard-shaped serving pieces or cutting boards (you choose how to use them!). I needed to rename these pieces, so … well, I am known for my creativity (well, sometimes).
Large Serving Piece was the perfect name. Name the thing what it is, that’s what I think. Creativity can only confuse people at this point.
The LSPs are made with cove cuts on all 4 sides. Cove cuts are made taking the piece across the front edge of the table saw blade, moving sideways – not through the blade with a straight cut. This makes a large sweeping curve which is unique to this piece.
And making those cove cuts spews sawdust everywhere. Saw blades are made to capture sawdust between the saw teeth, and return it to below the table of the table saw for dust collection. The sideways movement of this cut interrupts that flow … and I’m left with a fine sawdust over the entire shop as well as an 1″ of sawdust under foot after making these pieces.
Once the cove cuts are done, then the piece gets the signature oval-ish shape cut on the band saw, and then the LSP is smoothed with 2x different random orbital sanders. 4x non-skid rubber feet held on with stainless steel screws complete the piece, which floats lightly on the table.
We visited the Petrified Forest National Park on May 3, 2022. We entered through the South entrance, after spending the previous night in Winslow, AZ (on Historic Route 66) and enjoying the downtown homage to that signature tune by The Eagles.
After driving through the closest town, Holbrook, AZ, and driving right by the largest private seller of petrified wood and buying nothing … we arrived at the turn off to the park entrance, and went to the apparently smaller retailer of petrified wood that has a very impressive store right by the entrance. After buying nothing, again, we proceeded on to the main event.
The southern entrance of the park is close to the park museum and gift shop … worth a stop. Then we took a hike to the adjacent Long Logs area of the park to see one of the greatest collections of petrified wood you can walk to in the park: we walked about a mile and a half on a largely paved path. Most of the pix below are from that hike.
After getting blown by 20 MPH winds, gusting to 30 MPH, we proceeded on the drive through the park which took about 4 hours. We stopped at most of the recommended places, though we became discouraged by the 30 MPH winds that were gusting to 40 MPH at this point and did not do a significant hike again. In spite of the wind, we had a great visit and transitioned into the northern section of the park, AKA the Painted Desert. Our timing in May was good with some of the vegetation in it’s growth/flowering cycle.
Please note that our drive through the park was guided by the app “Just Ahead” which is highly recommended. This GPS-triggered app guided us through the park with both driving directions and interesting trivia just as you approached the relevant sections of the park. Highly recommended as the way to visit our national parks … though you may need to download maps while on the hotel’s wifi the night before!
I make cutting boards in a mostly traditional way. Some of my choices, though, are often not traditional.
Cutting Boards that come from the Woodshop are generally for one-sided use … they have non-skid rubber feet so the boards do not move while you use them. I am not a fan of moving targets when you have a knife in your hand.
When I do make a 2-sided board – like the Carnivore Boards – then the boards come with a non-skid silicon mat. Both the mat and the aforementioned feet hold the boards in place, and, importantly, provide an air gap so the bottom of the boards never just sit in water on the counter. That would be bad.
All boards are made from quality hardwoods, selected for their beauty and particular characteristics that make them good cutting board woods.
Last week, a pair of large cutting boards I barely remembered making – 6 years ago! – came back to me for refinishing. That is a service I do for free, by the way, but I digress.
The boards were 6 years old but were truly in fabulous condition. They had been well-used (every day, the owners proudly told me), and they had some knife marks as well as a scorch on one of the boards from where some hot pan had been set on the board for too long. I sanded the boards smooth, got the scorch mark as well as about 98% of the knife marks out, and re-oiled the boards. It took about 15 minutes all told, and the owners were thrilled with their like-new boards.
Did I mention they ordered 2 more large boards for gifts? I was pretty thrilled, too.
In preparation for last week’s event, I finished several cutting boards to add to my display. Here is what the really-new boards look like.
Carnivore Board 22 – 101. 14″ x 19″ Bloodwood & Hard Maple. Poultry side.
Carnivore Board 22 – 101. Beef/Pork Side.
Cutting Board 22 – 501. Black Walnut End Grain. Juice Groove. Sold on its first showing.
Carnivore Board 22 – 102. Hard Maple. Poultry side. Note the big juice groove holds 2 cups of juice!
Carnivore Board – 22 – 102. Beef/Pork side, with a more normal juice groove that’s 3/4″ wide x 3/8″ deep … much larger than “typical” juice grooves that are offered.
Cutting Board 22 – 203. Edge grain. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Purpleheart. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Carnivore Board 22 – 105. Spectacular Black Walnut, on the poultry side.
Carnivore Board 22 – 105. On the Beef/Pork side.
Cutting Board 22 – 201. Black Walnut, Purpleheart, Bloodwood and Hard Maple. Edge grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Carnivore Board 22 – 103. Hard Maple.
Carnivore Board 22 – 103, the Beef/Pork side.
Carnivore Board 22 – 104. Black Walnut.
Carnivore Board 22 – 104, flip side.
Cutting Board 22 – 202. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/4″.
The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.
Remember me? Remember how I used to write things?
I’m back.
I’ve done the Fresno H&G a few times, and it’s time to crank it up in 2022.
Finally.
Read about my past experiences here: 2019, 2018 and 2017. Interesting that 2017 was my first solo event, ever. Now, I don’t know how to act if Mrs M shows up … and she hasn’t made soap in quite a while. Don’t bother her, she has a wedding to help plan.
But back to going a-vendoring.
New Ideas
I got moved to a new building this time … because my old building was undergoing renovations and was unavailable. I did not receive word from the promoter until late, well after I was paid in full and most booths were booked. We had a, uh, disagreement about what should happen to my booth. I didn’t respond well to the pressure sales tactics, which stated that they would not charge me for moving my booth to a new location.
Note to sales reps, everywhere: beware trying to pressure an old sales manager. It will not end well for you.
I finally stated I would move to a building that met these criteria: 1) not near another woodworker, 2) not near dogs up for adoption and 3) not near loud, amplified-selling “sideshow barker” type presentations.
My sales reps’ recommendation failed on point 2. Completely.
So, I, uh, suggested that she not book that location and then I suggested a location near the craft cocktail booths (and an open bar, come to find out). My new home was building # 4 … which, in the time-honored tradition of the Fresno Home & Garden Show, was known as “MORE EXHIBITS.”
Observations
I arrived at the Fairgrounds at about noon on Thursday, with 8 hours to set up the booth. I asked directions to building # 4, and parked the trailer with pretty good access to my new home.
Set up began as soon as I checked in at Building # 2, I think it was (AKA “MORE EXHIBITS”). I had discovered a problem as I unloaded the trailer … table cloths had not made it into the trailer. They were at home, over 3 hours away. And in 2022 gas, that would be …
Luckily, Exhibitor Services fixed me right up with hotel banquet-table-style plastic tops & skirting for all 10 of my tables. And it was def def definitely cheaper than the gas would have been to go home.
My spiffy wooden name tag is missing. No clue where it got to.
The vendor behind me was a rock n’ roll hair salon, selling hair care products (Hair dryers & such. The prices were way more than I expected. Like, way more. Don’t buy hair dryers at home & garden shows is my recommendation.)
I am pleased to report the rock ‘n roll hair salon turned down their music. And I didn’t even have to sic music licensing agencies such as ASCAP or BMI on them. Something I was contemplating, to be honest.
Fresno is an agricultural area, so it’s inevitable that I am approached by well-meaning ranchers that want to give me their trees. Not lumber, which I might be able to use, but their trees. Sorry, not set up for that. I turned down old Oak and a Black Walnut stump. Unfortunately.
Fridays at home & garden shows are known for 2 things: not much traffic, and lots of senior citizens that are there for exercise and to pick up free stuff. Oh, and rain was forecast. My Friday was dead slow, until I finally sold something at 2:30pm. And then I had someone in line to give me more money while I was wrapping up purchase #1.
When it rains, it pours. HA. Weather humor.
Rain was again forecast for Saturday, but there wasn’t really much moisture in the air. It was a little wet, attendance was probably down, and it was just cold & wet all day. Temp was in the 50s. I kept my jacket on all day.
This is the 2nd event that I had Deviled Egg Platters for sale … but I only had one made. I asked Mrs M if I could borrow her personal DEP to promote special orders. She said yes … and I sold 2x “just like this one.”
Interestingly, she had a retirement party at the house for a loved colleague a few weeks ago … and I got orders for 2x large cutting boards “just like hers.”
Maybe I should try to not sell more of her stuff.
Sold my whiskey sign about Grant … it was going to be a wedding present someone in the whiskey business. If you know about General Grant, you know that is appropriate.
Had a lady that wanted to buy an oval Lazy Susan. An oval Lazy Susan. She saw nothing wrong with the idea, and I couldn’t explain the problem with a rotating oval in the middle of a dinner table in a way that she could understand. No sale there. Thankfully.
Once again, I was amazed at the people that saw crackers on my display … and decided they were free food. One guy asked if it was OK, I said no, they are stale! … and he took one anyway. That was a first.
Strollers are getting bigger. One family had dad pushing a stroller with baby, and mom pushing a foldable wagon with a toddler. That family procession was about 15′ long.
My favorite transaction of the weekend was with a group that didn’t dress like me. Mothers all had scarves or hats or something on their head. They spoke with an accent I couldn’t identify. But one of the Moms loved one of my big end grain boards, and we talked about it … but the price was too much.
An hour later, her daughter was back and wanted to see if I would sell it to her tomorrow, after she talked to her siblings about sharing the cost for their mother … as a birthday present, just 2 days away.
Sunday afternoon, the daughter was back with crisp hundred dollar bills in her hand to buy the board for momma.
I’m a sucker for that, so I gave her an unexpectedly large amount of change back. Come to find out, this is an immigrant community that had moved from Russia to Armenia to America several decades ago, and now has at least 3 culturally significant communities on the west coast. Who knew? It was nice getting to know a bit about them, and I am glad I put a smile on these American faces.
The Food
Best Meal: Nope, not this event. This is Fresno, and I’m all about saving money. I had frozen dinners and left overs from home in the hotel room each night. But, Mrs M’s cooking is WONDERFUL. That’s what I meant. Mrs M for the win.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 440
Booth cost: $1,000 for a double booth, 10×20
# of people we met during the event from the producer: I talked to four different people, but no names were exchanged. No personal touches here.
Visits in the booth by a promoter’s representative: Only when they were leaving info to solicit me to come back for the smaller fall show that conflicts with much bigger events I do in October. Nope.
Competitors: sure, though none that I found did exactly what I did. As always.
# transactions: 21 sales in 20 hours
Returning next year? Unclear to me at this point. I believe this is the best show available to me IN MARCH. I made a few dollars … literally, a few dollars. Already have one follow-up sale, though, so perhaps…. Well, Liza sang it, “What good is sitting alone in your room?” I would never compare the Fresno Home & Garden Show to a cabaret … but will I return? I simply don’t know. If gas triples in price, no.
