The Board Chronicles: Winterfest 2019

The Board Chronicles: Winterfest 2019 Leave a comment

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.

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A note about my absence. After a few months of getting more and more behind … I still haven’t caught up.

I will, just not today. In the interim, here’s the latest installment of The Board Chronicles for all of you that have been missing my missives.

Enjoy, and thank you for your patience!

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Winterfest was held February 9 & 10, 2019. It’s a main street event in Lake Havasu City, AZ, and my 2nd trip to the event. Last year, the infamous Flying Dry Soup Canopy made its way into the lore of Mrs M’s Handmade. Weather forecasts were much nicer for this weekend, so I had high hopes for my 3rd sojourn into Arizona.

New Ideas

I reserved a triple booth for this year … but Mrs M opted out. That left me solo for the weekend, and with a lot of space to fill. Since I only had a double canopy (the Saturday morning setup leaves NO TIME to put up the Trimline), I added tables in the “annex” that did not have a canopy over them.
Cheese cutters make their debut at this event. Made my first batch with Dr H’s help over the holidays.

Observations

The day started poorly. The load in started at 6am, and I was in position early. I was directed to line up in a parking lot across the street from the entrance … and then the event did not control which vehicles entered next. I hate being lied to. But, no big thing; I entered in plenty of time.
Once there, I parked the trailer and started unloading. I got yelled at almost immediately from someone that didn’t like the way I parked adjacent to my booth to unload. They were frustrated they couldn’t drive by the trailer … but the street just wasn’t wide enough for the big truck with duals and a 20′ trailer to get by me. They had to wait for me to unload. I hate getting yelled at by an idiot.
It was 6 in the morning. I was yelled at for no good reason. So, yes, he was an idiot.
Once I was unloaded, I moved the trailer to the parking lot. I followed the rules – but this event is pretty much a free for all. That’s the problem: lack of control by the organizers. In my opinion.
She said: “Cheese cutters. I love it. You never see these anymore.” And I’m thinking … I better keep making these.
He said: “Do you give lessons?” Uh, no. And, I’m from LA, so….
She said: “That’s a nice cheese slicer. And, I’m from Wisconsin, so I know cheese slicers.” I smiled.
This proved to be a good weekend, and as successful an event as you can expect in February. I left a deposit for next year.

The Food

Best Meal: This trip was not about the food. At all. The menu was cold bagels for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch & TV dinners in the hotel room. My only plan was minimizing expenses.