Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Getting ready for a Craft Show

Jeweled Horizons will have a booth at the Maine Boat, Home and Harbor Show this weekend in Rockland, Maine.  This is a huge show, with several tents, and exhibits  going on.  Thousands of visitors are expected.  In order to be ready I have to plan carefully what I will take, and what the booth will look like.  This time I am going to try something new .  Usually I set the necklaces out on the table, grouped by color; sometimes by price.  This time I am going to have several "necks" out, and will stack several  pieces on each one.  Then the extras will be piled up in trays.  Potential customers will have to lift them up to separate them and decide what they like.  The display will be (hopefully) eye catching, and (certainly) a bit chaotic.  The idea will be to create a booth that is clearly foreign and exotic because the jewelry I design is like that.  It appeals to those who have traveled, or who have a taste for ethnic and collectible pieces.  I anticipate that people will either pass it quickly, or come and spend some time.  I will take some furniture, maybe a carpet , certainly a background screen, to add some atmosphere.  I have several baskets and a check list so that I don't forget something important. Inevitably I will forget something; hopefully it will be minor.
Oh! Which reminds me:: The car is packed, but I almost forgot to include the mirror, which , for a jewelry booth, is not minor.   



Two Seasons

In Maine, people say there are four seasons, summer, fall, winter, and mud.  However, in some ways, there are two:  summer, and the rest of the year.  More than any other place I have lived, there is a deep separation between these two times of the year.  First of all, it is well known that the population expands exponentially in the summer.  Let's face it; it is a vacation state.  And that has real implications for the year round population.  While the year rounders have their lives, their routines, their meetings, things go topsy-turvy come June.  People VISIT.   Naturally jobs must continue, but club meetings and nonprofit board meetings stop. Routines change.  One may live in the same house, but lead a very different life style, see different people, and do different things from the rest of the year.  And this is accepted and expected.  One may as well say goodbye to one's winter buddies as if leaving on a cruise ship in mid June, only to return after Labor Day.  It also has something to do with the dramatic climatic differences.  All of a sudden folks are outside, gardening and swimming , hiking with their visiting friends and relatives, instead of  watering indoor plants, going to an indoor gym, or taking walks bundled up in several layers.

I admit I may be overstating this because I lived so many years in  one-climate locals.  Actually,  for eighteen years we had Christmas in 100 degree climates.  Oman and Sri Lanka have year round tropical weather, and Peru is in the southern hemisphere, so December 25 is the middle of summer. Near the equator the sun rises and falls at about the same time all year.  My book clubs and charity board meetings met every month, and life went on at a steady pace.  People may have taken their own time off, but the system never  just stopped.

Actually, it's true that Europeans just stop everything in August, as unknowing American tourists quickly discover.  The difference is that they get up and leave.  Here in Maine, the locals stay; they just live a life as different in routine from the rest of the year as their summer wardrobe.