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.
I love local events, but didn’t want to do this one. It’s a 4-night free summer concert series in an off the beaten path county park.
It would be hot, so lotion was out. I needed shop time, so we would pass.
And then Velda got motivated.
doTerra essential oils is her latest obsession, and she’s a Wellness Advocate that would love to talk to you about how she uses oils to improve our lives. When doTerra offered to give her free stuff if she would only sign up new members, she got inspired. She got motivated. She got excited.
So she wanted to do the LA SummerFEST at Rivendale to promote her doTerra business. The events were inexpensive, and she could do them with her doTerra buddies. She would do it, and I only had to help her set up.
I am the hired labor, after all.
Oh, and build her a display unit.
She did the day one event, which was a Latin Music Festival. Unfortunately, her posse wasn’t available to help on day 2, so I got drafted to take her place at the Americana Music Festival.
New Ideas
- First time we’ve used the area rug to cover the “floor” in some time. It made the booth so much more inviting than the natural wood chip carpet Mr M’s Woodshop was provided with.
- First time we’ve used our lights in several months, too. They are bulky, but other vendors love our lights when they see how they light our booth!
- Set up was relatively easy, as I had set up the shade structure, rug and one table the day before. I only had to bring two more tables and the boards to set up for this 3pm Sunday event.
- Since I was prepared, my electrical cables provided power to the booths in our area. It’s good to be prepared.
Observations
- Few events have open bars, but Velda decided we needed to support this one – probably because this was a Mr M’s Woodshop event and she had nothing to do. In any event, she went to the bar and came back asking if it was OK, since the only “bourbon” that the “bartender” had was Jameson’s. I responded that Jameson’s was certainly not bourbon, but that I would consent to drink Irish Whiskey since it was all the “bartender” had. When I know more about booze than a
trainedexperienceddesignatedprofessionalbartenderliquor server, then there’s an imbalance in the universe. - Two booths didn’t have shade structures in the blazing summer sun. Quoth Velda, the seasoned vendor pro after 18 months in the business, “Amateurs!”
- The next time a financial services vendor walks into my booth, acts interested in my boards and then pitches me on his service, I’m going to be less kind. My booth is mine. Do not pitch me in my space.
- Giant Flying Horned Beetles are not fun to share space with, and when our new 3″ long pet entered into a state of euphoria buzzing between all of our lights under the shade structure, it got dicey for a few moments. The Mighty Velda began to channel her inner Casey, picked up a big container lid, and swung for the fences. The count was 0 and 2 when she ignored the stop sign and struck the G.F.H.B. straight into my chest. Perhaps that was her intention. In any event, I took the lid from her and sent her back to the bench.
- The music was very, very good. Americana is part roots, part singer/songwriter, and part eclectic, and that’s very much what I enjoy. Our neighbor was one of the featured performers, so I got to experience him in concert … just as I do in the back yard almost every night!
- I broke rules being a vendor at this event:
- Never do first time events.
- Never do Sunday night events.
- Never do music events.
- Never do events you don’t want to do.
- Driving home, breezing up I-5, I was surprised to see my right rear view mirror nearly blocked by the rug that I had tied to the roof. I hate that rug, but it held on until I could pull over and add another rope.
- I hate that rug.
The Food
Sunday Snack: Jameson’s Irish Whiskey, which is not a Kentucky Bourbon
Sunday Dinner: Two sliders from the food truck and (non-garlic) Parmesan fries. Dinner was fine, but Velda didn’t like it. Her two sliders weren’t great, so she sampled mine. Luckily, I finished with my customer and was able to eat my dinner before her sampling got out of hand.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 41
- Booth cost: $35
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Total sales: $80
- # containers of product taken: 7
- # boards available: 59
- Sunday alarm: none
- # transactions: 2
- # soap & lotion vendors: 1
- # woodworking vendors: just me
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 2:0 … another end grain shut out
Boards sold: 2
Small Surfboard: 1
Small Sous Chef Board: 1
I have a picture of that flying beetle bird. I swear it was the size of a humming bird.
It was. And please, please, the next time you want to smack one into the middle of next week, please use me as a target. I don’t have enough “Ewwww!” in my life without your help.