Learning and Improving as I go

I had a show in San Antonio this past weekend. My wonderful husband went with me this time and we had a really nice time. The show itself was lackluster, by no fault of my fellow artists. There was rain both mornings, which I'm sure kept attendance down. In addition to that I don't think it was well advertised and the show was like a ghost town both days, despite the rain holding off throughout show hours.

This was my booth set up on Saturday.

We didn't put the back wall of my tent on because it was set up against a rock wall. It rained Saturday morning and water dripped down my vinyl banners and onto my table clothes, a minor annoyance. However, I would probably put that back wall up next time!

I woke up at 3:30 AM Sunday to a crazy show of lightening and thunder that sounded like bombs going off all over town. There was no rain at that time so I went back to sleep and never worried about my booth (probably a good thing since I couldn't do anything anyways). Well, by all accounts the sky opened up and dumped rain right after that lightening show. My booth showed it the next morning! When we walked up to the show one corner of my EZ up canopy had pulled off due to the weight of the water it was apparently holding. The other side held water still and was dripping, basically raining inside my tent. My plexi cases and displays inside were all soaked. I took it all in stride and handled it well, I must say. We found paper towels, dried out everything and had everything put back together, and only an hour after the show started.

I wish I would have taken a picture of what I first saw when I looked in my tent, but of course that was the last thing on my mind. This picture, taken with my fogged up camera shows the cases pretty much dried out and my pile of paper towels.

Breakfast tacos from the Gordita stand saved the day! Nothing like homemade tortillas at an art show. We could hear the lady patting out the delicious torts all day. Yum!

We have no idea what happened to our two neighbors. They never showed. On Sunday we took advantage of that by becoming a corner booth. I see the advantage of that now, it adds at least 3 more feet of display space to my set up.

I'm still really not sure what the solution is to EZ-Ups holding water. A fellow artist suggested that we need to weight down the corners of the canopy so that they can't hold water. It looked like the frame was bent a bit, so we will have to set the tent up and check everything out. If anyone has any suggestions for dealing with this particular EZ-Up problem, please let me know.

I also learned that I should get a corner booth whenever it is available, and I can afford it. Maybe even more important, the same goes for an indoor booth! They were available, and just a little more expensive. Though I'm not sure it would have boosted sales, at least you don't have the headaches of the weather taking its toll on your tent and displays.

Frank and I learned that we are capable of doing and out of town show with only the two of us. We are normally lucky to have tons of help from my folks, who are so generous to go with us to shows. I totally appreciate that they are supportive and actually enjoy going with me (I think), but it was nice to know that Frank and I could also go it alone if need be.