| Two gyms full Lynn Holland on manning a booth at a crafts fair
This particular craft show was a one-day extravaganza at a large, prestigious private school. Known for heavy crowds with an interest in spending money, the show stretched across two gyms, a cafeteria and a huge outdoor walkway. For the vending fee and a donation item (minimum value $25) each vendor received a taped-off area (approximately 8 x 8) in which to set up a display. By the time I arrived on Saturday morning, an hour and a half before showtime, Gloria had transformed her square of floor in the cafeteria into an adorable lattice-backed booth with draped display tables, tulle-trimmed racks, and dolls dressed in Gloria's mother's creations, relaxing in wicker chairs waiting for Santa. The enormous parking lots were already beginning to fill, and all the vendors and volunteers were searching for coffee. Those vendors set up in the outdoor arcade were beginning to get frostbite, except for some obvious old hands from Tennessee who had a propane heater set up and were making friends rapidly. As I walked through the outdoor area I heard someone exclaim, "I've already sold $300 worth of stuff to the security guards!" Shortly before opening, a volunteer lunch lady came by to sell us a box lunch and tell us about where we could find what if we need help. By quarter to nine, there was a line at the door, waiting for the opening bell. Gloria and I checked out the vendors on either side of us. To the left of us were beautiful handmade baby goods. The business is named Hope's Baby, and both Hope and the baby were manning the booth. Although I thought that bringing a six-month old baby to an all-day event was misery waiting to happen, I sure was wrong. Hope's baby didn't complain nearly as much as I did during the eight-hour stint. To the right of us was neat ladies' stuff, including funky beaded wire mesh purses and adorable Santa and angel pillows. Across the way was a vendor from Tennessee who sold handsomely detailed Santas. Gloria and I both fell in love with the Santa holding an ark full of Noah's animals. After a cursory trip around our immediate area, it was time for the real deal, and in came the shoppers. People came, they looked, they bought. Gloria and I worked out a system to keep things straight. I learned how to pin doll clothes together and to re-dress a doll in mid-air. Things happened here and there to break the monotony. One beleaguered shopper somehow got too laden down with goodies and dropped a $40 ceramic bowl on the floor which shattered into a dozen pieces. At one point during the day, we had a sorority reunion that blocked traffic into our little space for a good ten minutes. Consequently, I learned more about a stranger's broken engagement and her auntie's surgery than any close relative needed to know. Someone was looking for a dress for her Shirley Temple doll; another was trying to find something to fit around a doll that was "born" in the fifties and is a little heftier than the girls of today. Several little girls came and admired our wares, had a piece of candy from Gloria's fabric gingerbread house "jar," then went off in search of their mothers, who had the money! Some of them stayed with us nearly the entire day. Lunchtime came and went. The chicken salad croissant sandwich was excellent, and it was accompanied by a slice of homemade lemon poppyseed pound cake. We drank huge quantities of bottled water. The baby next door did not cry or fuss, but continued to be the best advertisement for motherhood I have every seen. Even though there was a "no strollers" policy, late in the afternoon a few began to creep in. People came back to buy those things they should have bought earlier. When the final minutes approached, someone from the committee handed Gloria a comment sheet and reminded her to take the shuttle back to the remote lot to get her truck so she could load her goods. Giving me instructions on how to begin the packing up, Gloria went to catch the shuttle. When she returned, she was less than thrilled. Due to the heavy vendor traffic, she had to park two buildings away. We were more fortunate than most, because Gloria's stock is unbreakable and relatively lightweight. We didn't have pottery to wrap or bows that would get crushed. Thankfully, Gloria has packing up and getting ready to go down to a science. After about eight trips each with heavy loads her pickup was organized so that she can be ready in an instant for the next show. And don't forget me -- I can hardly wait for the show next Saturday. This time she has promised me I can come Friday night and help set up! |
Before the trick or
treaters have finished off that last bit of candy, the
holiday craft marketplace season officially begins.
Everyone who sews or does some type of craft has probably
at one time or another contemplated having a booth
themselves, and last weekend I got to fulfill my
long-term fascination with craft vending by volunteering
to help a friend who has run a one-woman booth for
several seasons now. Gloria's mother sews beautiful
clothing for 18-inch dolls (American Girl, primarily),
and Gloria markets them for her. 
