Yesterday was the Gingham Tree Arts & Crafts Festival in Lucedale, MS. The event was held at the George County Fairgrounds. I found myself wishing that Verizon had a tower closer because by 10 am I was no longer able to process credit cards. Luckily my father in law was on site and I was able to commandeer his C-Spire cell phone. I then downloaded the app I needed to work with my card reader and I was back in business, though it was a bit frustrating.
I am getting a bit ahead of myself here. Let’s start the day before. On Friday Kim went out to set up a day ahead of the event. She set up our vendor tent, the tent walls, and staked it the best she could. I didn’t think much about a north wind throwing tents around like frisbees, because I hadn’t really paid attention to the weather. So the first hint of trouble came with a phone call at 6 am Saturday morning while en route to Gingham Tree. It was a very nice lady that said we might want to come early. She explained that it was windy the night before and mentioned a few items had been tossed around.
I was still in disbelief that it was windy. I’m not a man that likes to take anything at face value, at least not immediately. So I pondered vandalism, wind, or maybe some wild teenager went tearing through there last night on a horse. However, the more I thought about it, and reasoned it out loud with Kim, the more I realized what she was really saying. Our tent had a short flight across the fairgrounds. The questions was how bad would it be? Usually when a tent is taken down by wind they are ruined. A cheap one like we bought would be anyway.
We were able to salvage the tent for this event. I had some help raising our tent from a bearded dude who was also a vendor (more on him later). After about 30 minutes we had the tent up and secured for the event (upon departure I departed with this canopy, it can be found in the dumpster). So the event moved forward with everyone trying to fight against the north wind while keeping their products in position. Some vendors had set up their products as well the night before with some product ending up in the grass. Once everyone got over the shock of how serious the wind/cold was going to be everything settled down to normal.
Our site was on the far north side, facing the wind, and next to the children’s inflatable playground. Although the foot traffic wasn’t that great at this site, in the long run it was nice letting our children enjoy themselves while still in our view. The sales were good! I want to go ahead and throw this out there. Despite chilly weather and being in a slower spot, we did quite well. I really can’t say enough about these residents of the George County area. They are decent folks and they came to shop. Can’t really ask for a better day.
I had another reminder that age is catching up with me. You know when you are at an event and you want to take a selfie to send to someone? Well here’s mine:
After taking the selfie and viewing it, I realized what had happened. But here’s where the geriatric concern really comes in. I went ahead and sent the selfie via text message anyway. I didn’t want to take the time to retake the selfie. And really who cares if your eyes are closed? About half of my pictures turn out like this (Kimberly can testify to that). It’s not like it’s going to be on the news or anything. A younger me just wouldn’t have done that, but a younger me didn’t understand the value of being dispassionate about such things.
So back to the bearded tent enabler. His wife had a heck of an embroidery machine going over there. And boy was she busy. But that wind, that darn wind. A shirt jumped while she was working the machine. She reached to grab it and injured her finger in the machine itself. She was ok and was able to apply first aid and remain at the festival, however there was no more embroidering.
There’s a bee keeper in Oak Grove, MS near Hattiesburg. His name is Greg and I swear we have seen his wife and him at every single festival we’ve attended. At this point it’s like talking to family when they walk up. However, I think this is the first time they made a purchase. They picked out a soap gift set that Kim had prepared. I’ll have to make a point to buy some of his honey the next time I see it in the store. They are such nice people.
Another unexpected visitor was the organizer for the Fulmers Farmstead and General Store. She stopped by right in the middle of my credit card melt down. I literally had 3 cell phones on the table when she walked up. It wasn’t my best moment. I let Kimberly take the wheel. They are a very nice family and we look forward to being a vendor at their Christmas in the Orchard which is coming up in December. The event will take place Friday and Saturday evenings for three weeks in a row. To learn more about this exciting Christmas event click here.
We also received a visit from the organizers for a large festival in the spring at Hurley, MS (Old Fashion Day). This is funny because the only reason we attended the Gingham Tree festival was because someone talked to us about it at The Pecan Festival at Fulmer’s Farmstead back in late September. And now the organizers of Old Fashion Day were inviting us to attend theirs, which we certainly will. It’s for a good cause. All proceeds from Old Fashion Day will go to the East Central Civic Association for scholarships for local seniors.
In other news we vaccinated our goats and trimmed their hoofs today. The exercise pretty much went off without a hitch. We look forward to the holidays ahead, to time spent with family, and to good health. I hope each of you are enjoying this cool weather. It’s my favorite time of year! Till next time…
