Harvest Fest 2012 Recap

My sister Franny came up to help me on Saturday for this year's Harvest Festival, held in Sharon Springs, NY. (Here she is posing with our booth) The weather was beautiful, no rain... nice and dry. When we arrived early on Saturday morning, they pointed us to this spot, up against some very large pine trees. We got to work right away and had most everything done before 10am. As the sun shifted in the sky and the clouds rolled in, the wind picked up and I quickly realized that I did not dress appropriately! The wonderful and friendly quilter neighbor let me use her jacket for the day! So sweet.

My talented friend Tara made this sign for me for the booth. I hadn't had one before now, and it was nice to have- alerting people what was actually inside the booth. 

The checking out station, adorned with some orange Mums, and my long teal wood box, with essentials stashed away inside. It made the otherwise, normally sized table, taller- and exactly the height of my other tables which were on stilts. 

See that cage to the left? That was my neighbor, Andy, the 5 mo. old bull. He was super sweet and loved the attention he got all weekend. Next to him were 4 goats. Surprisingly the girls that were at the booth kept both animals nice and happy, fed, and cleaned up. It didn't smell at all.

My set up looked a lot like it did last year, with just a few minor modifications. I used the slate tiles to display necklaces and bracelets. Wire baskets and crates held earrings. I left my cutie owls at home as last year everyone was asking if they were for sale.

The Tags were great, and professionally looking. My only complaint is that I should have used a thicker paper, - they seemed to curl easily if they sat on a surface.

The mini clothespins held the earring cards in place even through the gusty occasional winds.

All in all it was a great show. Saw a lot of people come through. Got many wonderful comments on my displays, and on the designs. Many told me that my designs were VERY different than anything they've seen before, so that was awesome to hear. I wish the weather had been a bit warmer, or that I was in a sunnier spot for the weekend. I may try to have them move me to a new location next year. I think shoppers were cold and didn't stick around long once inside my shady and chilly booth.

I didn't have great cell service in my location. Occasionally I had 1 bar of service, which went up to 2 and down to 0 pretty regularly. So instead of using the Square to swipe cards, I took credit card info and shredded it later after I processed the payment from home.  

Lesson that I learned this weekend: Square does not allow some Non-U.S. credit cards. Most but not ALL. So my biggest sale of the weekend, came from a family visiting from Toronto. He gave me all the info, but I never got his phone number. When he told me the billing zip, I thought to myself, I am anticipating a problem. A 6-digit zip as opposed to a 5-digit zip- yep- I see trouble. Got home that night and went to run the card. Declined. Tried it again. Declined.  Shit.

Found out when putting out some feelers on Facebook, that Square doesn't accept all credit cards. So I took to the internet, luckily found the Father who was a doctor, and bought the jewelry for his daughter. Emailed him and luckily was able to remedy the situation by sending him a paypal invoice. 

I tell you all this story, so that you are in-the-know about this glitch.... Cuz that's how I roll.

Will I do the show again next year? Yep, absolutely!! Although last year I did better in sales, this year was just as fun and I do look forward to being there again and again. Until they kick me out. Or until they start Jurying the show. Whichever comes first. I only say that because I wasn't accepted into 2 other juried shows and tend to wonder if it's me. At any rate, yes- I'll be there next year. Fo shiz.