First event of the season starts — not surprisingly, given the time of the year — with a rainy morning.
Thankfully, we live in a habitually wet part of the world, so rain rarely "stops play."
Very happy we got fully set up last night, since it has turned out that "doors open at 10:00" actually turned into people drifting around as early as 9:20 or so.
Hopefully this will be a good season, notwithstanding the rather sketchy economy of the world.
Shows move along in "mini goals." first on the list is "make the first sale", which didn't happen till about 11:30 or so... rather late. Second comes "cover the booth fee," which happened at about 12:15, thanks to the lunch crowd starting to show. Third objective is reaching the "all expenses" point, which will hopefully happen within a couple of hours.
Once that point has been reached, we actually start making income. Fairs and events are — sadly — notoriously unpredictable, and just because we have a bang-up first few hours doesn't mean we'll have a great event. Conversely, sometimes we'll have a horrible event and two people make purchases that turn everything around, during the last hour.
It's one of the reasons why I am pretty adamant about not "leaving early in disgust," as some vendors do when thing are falling short of their expectations. You just never know what might happen at the very end!
I sometimes get asked whether doing outside shows is really a worthwhile proposition and I generally would say yes, given that we can make at least $200 after expenses for a weekend... which beats what we'd end up with, sitting around the house.
At this point our "cause" is also helped by the fact that we have been doing the show circuit for almost 15 years... building a customer base that knows where we go to Holiday events.
It has been a long time, however, since we've had a significant surprise result in the positive direction... maybe this season!
Now, back to the show!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!
My Alchemy Stones Patreon appeal
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2025.12.05 AS-TXT-348/318
