Packing the van

[offcntr]

Packing the van for a show is always hard. Some of it is automatic, of course: eight-foot shelves and grid panel goes on the roof rack, extra box of stands and zip ties goes inside. Don't forget the shelf extensions, the hand truck adaptors (which allows us to carry long shelfs on the cart). Make sure to take out the eight-foot EZUp and put in the ten.

Picking out the pots to bring is trickier.

There are easy choices: we always bring a second box of soup bowls restock, and a box of extra banks. Lately, I've been doubling up on restocks plates as well. Beyond that, it's guesswork, anticipating what will be in demand. Serving bowls, bakers, pie plates? Should I squeeze in extra cookie jars, or will I need big pitchers instead? What patterns? In Washington state, I always bring extra crab pottery; other places it's roosters or bunnies. Portland, oddly enough, always sells surprisingly many flamingos.

It's particularly difficult for a new show, the the Salem Art Fair & Festival we're attending this weekend. Then you have to guess not only what will sell, but how much. You've no track record to go by. Fortunately, we're coming home nights, so have the opportunity to bring more (or different) work with us in the morning.

We can't just take everything, though. For one thing, my van is a smallish Chevy Astro with limited cargo space. There's also only so much room to stack restock in the back of the booth and still leave room for ourselves. I've tried leaving stock in the van at shows, but I find I spend half the weekend or more walking back and forth getting more pots.