Roastburg

[offcntr]

The UVA Summer Arts Festival is my first road show since 2019. I was as prepared as I could be. Loaded up the van, marked boxes, took inventory. Brought two coolers plus a contractor's water bucket primed with ice. Even bought a silvered mylar camping emergency blanket, for extra sun protection on the south-facing back of my booth. Since I was going solo, I simplified my display a little--no eight-foot shelves, just the regular Market five-footers. I did take a grid panel to display plates, but figured out a way to add the feet at home, to save time, and pad them to not knock chips in the van's paint. And I got out the five-foot bench I last used at Holday Market 2019, before I built the cut-down version for Pandemic Market, so I could get in and out of my booth without having to go around the back. (Road shows use a bigger booth.)

Set up starts when they cone off the right lane of Harvard Avenue, around 7 am Friday. I came down Thursday night, stayed in a motel, and arrived at my booth just as the cone truck passed it, perfect timing.

The fair had recruited volunteers from the local high school to help vendors unload and set up. I was initially resistant--the last time I had high school students unloading my van, at a show in Coupeville, I wound up with broken pots when they set them down hard on the sidewalk. This time, I had an idea: told them to unload all the shelving and wooden displays, the grid panel and conduits from the roof, and I would take out all of the pottery boxes. Between myself and the enthusiastic team, I had the van emptied and off the street in about 20 minutes, while they swept off to help someone else. Two of them checked in later, as I was setting up shelves, and wound up staying to help level and stake everything--you really need a second person to slip shims under the shelf legs as the first person lifts up. They also stayed to put out display stands--the soup bowls are numbered, so they set them up while I tackled everything else. What with the extra hands, I was entirely set up by 10 am, two hours before the show opened.

Friday was busy. I have collectors, who have learned to come early to get the best choice, so any show I've been attending any length of time tends to get front-loaded like this. The woman who's been buying a place setting a year wanted two, because canceled last year. Other folks dropped in to pick up a piece to accompany their other choices, and I'd filled up the first page of my sales book before 2 pm. We had a lull around the hottest part of the afternoon, when it hit the high 80s, but it picked up again around the time the shade from a big fir tree hit my booth around 5 pm. I did learn a lesson about keeping my restock in the shade--pulled out a couple of tall mugs and almost dropped them, they were so hot. Thought about running some ice water in to cool them down, but they were hot enough that I was really concerned about heat shock. So I left them in the shade for a half hour, at which point they were merely warm.

Had some nice experiences--the couple who told me my Great Horned Owl covered pitcher would be nice for serving wine, and later came back to buy it, along with a Spotted Owl and a Snowy Owl glass, to make a set. The man who collected beavers, and was surprised and delighted I had a beaver pie plate. And he wasn't even an OSU alum. Lots of kids towing in their folks to show their favorite animal--the bunnies plate was a particular hit.

It was nearly 8 pm, closing time, when a man came in with his teen-or-twenty-something daughter and her boyfriend/spouse. He'd spotted the $65 rooster platter, thought it would be perfect for his wife/her mother, and gave her a hundred dollar bill to buy it. She was protesting that she didn't think mom would use such a thing, so I pointed out a $33 rooster pie plate as another option.

He bought them both. Told me to keep the change.

Saturday was hotter, topped out at 104°. I coped by moving my camping blanket, silver side out, from the east side of the tent, along the back, ending on the west side, and leaving the walls loose to let in whatever breeze we could find. Worst was when the wind died down around 2 pm, but came back at four. I drank a lot of water, took some salt tablets, and a show volunteer came around with a package of fruit-sicles, though when I tried to pull it out of the wrapper, the handle came, but the orange slush stayed behind, so I squeezed it out like an otter-pop.

Sales were still really good--I came within $100 of Friday's total. I really think that nobody had any intention of coming out to the show on Sunday, when the temperature was predicted to hit 114°. We were all concerned about the heat, especially as our 4 pm closing would have us loading out in the hottest part of the day. Fortunately, after a lot of consideration, the gallery director came around at 6 pm Saturday saying that Sunday would be cancelled. They'd keep the fence up overnight, for security, but we could load out through the gates if we wanted to leave. Alternately, we could come in between 7 and 10 Sunday morning and they'd cone off the street and take down the fence then.

I compromised. I brought my empty boxes from the van and packed up all of my pots, but left them stacked in the booth. Thought about collecting the signage and boxing up the stands, but my over-heated brain just couldn't puzzle out how to fit everything into the box. So I left for my motel just before 9 pm, and had a cold shower before bed.

Woke up around 6, packed up and checked out by 7--already 72°--and had everything dismantled and loaded up by 8:15, so I treated myself to a Farmer's Breakfast at Shari's, and was back home before 11.

Funny thing. Even with the heat, and the cancellation, it was my best Roseburg ever. And the simplified display worked really well, think it's gonna be my road show standard from now on.

Comments

[james]

I'm glad it went really well for you, and very glad they cancelled the Sunday show. Ugh, this heat.