About the Street Fair

I didn't get to fully elaborate on last Saturday's BIG EVENT. It was the annual Town Festival, celebrating everything that is good and wonderful about small town America. You know, hot sausages, pit beef, scented candles, wooden items and bad jewelry. Plus lots and lots of people wandering around. It's good.

We spent the night at Mom's, because set up was from 6:00 am to 8:00 am, and I'd rather wake up in my old room at home than get up at 4:30 am and drive an hour to set up. (Just how cranky would THAT be? Really cranky, we did it twice in a row, it's just not a cool way to start the day)

After coffee (at the only coffee place in town OPEN at Oh! dark thirty) we got to the site, and set up (same spot as last year) It was still dark, and we were the only ones on the street, which was kind of cool, surreal and creepy at the same time. But it's worth coming early to watch everyone else scurry around like lunatics to be up and ready for business when the first people come creeping out of their homes.

We sold lots of kid necklaces (as usual) and several of the $15 bracelets, plus the copper byzantine bracelet/necklace set and the green rutilated quartz necklace. My mother's new job being my spokemodel is paying off, as I sold two bracelet and earring sets to old family friends, and got an order for a necklace. Whee!!

Only two major irritants marred my day. First off, right across the street, a girl I know was setting up HER jewelry booth. HER booth consisted of Silpada jewelry. Which, if you don't know (or care), is like Avon. You look at the catalogue, then order it. You see samples at the 'home jewelry parties' they have, but you don't take anything home. It's horribly priced, and just plain down unoriginal. I don't know about you, but I don't want my jewelry looking like everyone elses. Anyway, she set up her booth, with all her 'new' items. I wandered over to check it, partially because I was spying, and also because she's a pretty cool person. We chatted a bunch, and she told me that she only had two pieces for 'cash and carry' today. (Dammit, if I'm buying jewelry, I am, BY GOD, taking home with me) And those two were 'last seasons'. One was a decent looking strand of citrine chunks (citrine is a pretty gold/yellow/topaz colored stone.) I looked at it and said, "Ooh! I'd buy that and take it home and cut it up and make something else out of it." The look on this woman's face was PRICELESS. Her sales rep/mentor was standing there too, and she nearly fainted. "Oh mah Gaawd! Cut it up? Oh Jaysus! I almost fainted!!" D'oh!! Guess they're not into redesigning their own crap....
But the whole episode made me laugh like hell.

The second one did NOT make me laugh, and I'm still NOT amused. As we were tearing down, a little boy came up to me. "I want to buy my Mom a present. How much are those earrings?" "$8" "oh. How much is that necklace?" "$25" "oh. How about that bracelet?" "$15" "I have $8 to spend, what can I get for that?" So I felt sorry for the kid, and told him I'd give him a bracelet for $8. He was thrilled, and
HANDED ME A TWENTY DOLLAR BILL!!! "My Mom gave me this, and she wanted change." I was freaking pissed. But I let the little snotass have the bracelet, and made change without a word. Little shit. See if I don't check to see how much money the little snotmonkeys actually have BEFORE I give them a break on jewelry. Gah.

So that was Saturday. We drank beer after we tore down, then went to Moms and chilled and visited with her awhile, then came home. Not too bad of a day, really.