offcntr | Oct. 10th, 2015

Scrambling to get to the fair grounds before 10 am to enter a serving bowl into the gallery before they close the registry.

After that, it's a more leisurely morning, hanging the mirror and plate hangers on the grid panel on the back of the booth, organizing my restock boxes behind the counter, putting up shelf talkers--small strip signs that tell customers what pots are and what they cost. The mirror tile surround has an Alaskan theme that somehow permeates the plates surrounding it. We have puffins, salmon, moose, bear, eagle, orca, arctic fox. It'll be interesting if I can continue the theme through the weekend as things sell. And whether anyone besides me will notice. I play these games to amuse myself at shows sometimes...

Potluck at lunch is a nice time to relax and refuel. The apple pie I brought is still warm--one of the reasons I was nearly late this morning, I was baking--and soon gone. Then home to gather a few things I'm missing--restock pots, reprinted shelf talkers. And take a nap. I sense a theme developing here.

It's always gratifying to see a line outside the door when 5 pm arrives. The show fills up rapidly, and we look pretty busy all evening. I greet some familiar faces, sell a bunch of plates--including some of the Alaska wall. In between, I'm dashing into a back room where my laptop is set up so I can create certificates for the gallery awards. It's my next-to-last task as Graphics Chair. (Last is People's Choice award tomorrow.) There's a brief kerfuffle when the sponsorship chair realizes we don't have any prizes for second and third place, which I solve by suggesting Clay Fest gift certificates. We already issue a few for the Flower Ladies, a group of Garden Club volunteers who spend a couple of hours Friday morning doing flower arrangements in members' pots, so it's easy enough for me to knock together a couple more while I'm doing awards.

When we started the Friday night openings, we had live music, but the last few years, we've gone back to our roots, and put pottery demonstrations back on the stage. Tea Duong is a spectacularly gifted potter, and a funny guy, so always draws a crowd. I try to get a good picture to use on next year's bookmark, but he moves so fast, every time I get his face in the shot and press the shutter, he's moved back to the bottom of the pot.