Monday, June 16, 2008

Booth Nazi



Not only was the River Festival a great experience and an all around fun weekend, but it was also a tremendous success.

First things first, I got the greatest surprise on Saturday morning when I'm talking to my family as we sat outside my booth and from behind a tree walks Moe! Moe!? "What are you doing here? What are you doing here? What are you doing here?," I said in disbelief. Apparently she decided a few weeks ago that she would both surprise her parents and me with a surprise appearance in Salina. I was in shock. I think I may still be in shock.


Moe was a great sport and sat with us behind the booth until about 7 p.m. that evening. Being in Chicago, she had never been able to see me at an art fair. This time, she got up close and personal view of me in action. I hope you enjoyed it, Moe. You will never know how much it meant to me that you were there!!

The festival was great. It always is. We ate great food and we saw lots of friends, young and old. The festival is a virtual reunion for families from Salina. It truly is remarkable.

I did do fairly well. I sold nearly half of what I brought and confirmed three custom orders already. There was also an article in the paper about me. Funny that I can't find the archive link for it though.

My dad helped me set up the tent on Thursday night. As much as he didn't understand why I hang everything the night before the show for placement and then take it all back down and pack it away in boxes only to put it back up the very next morning, he helped me out anyway. There is a method to my madness, I assured him.

On Friday morning, my mom helped me out. She helped me place the packed up pieces back on the wall, roll up the sidewall, sat with me for a several hours, but she also got me an assortment of tulips for my booth. I had to get on her a few times for the placement of her chair while she was on duty. I went away for a brief break to come back and see her sitting in the director's chair INSIDE the booth, BLOCKING THE ART. You can't it INSIDE the booth, I told her. You can sit in front of the booth about 15 feet out or about 3 feet behind, but not inside the booth. And, really, not within a three foot perimeter of the booth. It intimidates the customers. This all took plenty of explaining. At one point she moved the chair right up next to the front of the booth and the photographer from the Salina Journal assumed she was the artist since she was sitting SO CLOSE to the booth and took HER picture to accompany the article that was written about Me. The poor photographer went back to the Journal and sent the photo to the reporter only to find out that the person that the reporter interviewed was ME and the person that the photographer shot was MY MOM. Poor guy had to come back. Neither photo accompanied the article after all. Long story short, my mom now calls me the booth Nazi. I appreciated all of her help and support, nevertheless. Love you, mom.

One last tidbit about the festival is the great music that they have. Everyone needs to go to iTunes and check out Black Violin. I cannot wait for our next dinner party to kick their tunes. My mom and Dave weren't fans, but Chris and I listened to our two new cds all the way back to KC. They are two violinists that play hip hop covers. I am a semi-closeted hip hop fan and hearing Kanye and Timbaland violin-style was the greatest. Seriously. Check them out. Now. iTunes. Black Violin. Click on Dirty Orchestra.

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