Art and Creativity Journal: Showtime Again!

2 weeks ago

Today was "setup day" for the second event of our 2024 Holiday campaign.

This is a small local-ish event being put on by our town's Unity Spiritual Center, with the primary sanctuary/congregation hall being reset to house about 20 assorted vendors from our general region.

One of the things we really like about this particular event is that we get a two-hour window the day before (i.e. Thursday) to set up in relative peace and quiet, absent the usual frantic "day of" setup vibe.

Of course, we lost a bit of time when we discovered that the conference tables provided by the venue were not compatible with the risers we use to lift our displays from normal table height by six inches.

Thankfully, "home" is only about 15 minutes away, so I could "fly" home and pick up two of our own tables in about half an hour.

In spite of this setback, we managed to get about 90% set up before being kicked out for the night. The nice thing about it is that we get to sleep an extra hour tomorrow before doors open to the public at 10:00am!

Not sure I feel entirely prepared, but it seems pretty good. Show prep is always a challenge because other aspects — like maintaining social media, and keeping up with Etsy/eBay messages — tend to get backburnered. There are only so many hours in a day!

Back home again, much of this evening will go with "bindery work," which amounts to cutting up larger sheets of printed pamphlets and folding them to enclose in bags with stones. Not everything we do is just painting on rocks!

Now we just have to hope that the "Retail Gods" are with us, this weekend!

Most shows are quite unpredictable, with results often being contingent on whether there are other events going on concurrently, the weather, events on TV and a host of other things that are all but impossible to predict.

Over the years, I have learned to be hopeful about a good result, but not to have any expectations. Sometimes event that seem to have "all the stars aligned" still turn out to be complete duds. Similarly, shows we think will be a waste of time can be quite successful.

I appreciate you coming to visit and please do leave a comment if you feel so inclined!

Thank You!

If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!

Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.

Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!

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