VerticallyEnhanced Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Big two day show this past weekend! I have to admit I went into protecting myself in a way, thinking it would not be a good one based on gas prices and the gloom and doom about the economy every time you turn on the TV. Well, I was wrong! I did way more in sales on Saturday than I did in both days last year at the same show. I was pretty surprised!The weather was just out of this world, though. I knew we were going to be in for some crazy stuff Friday night and thought about setting up Sat morning instead, but it takes me a good 4 hours to set up everything and just did not want to have to get up at 3am. So we just did the bare bones Friday night...tents and heavy furniture. They were having an outdoor concert that night to kick off the festival and I noticed a lot of people walking past my booth very quickly. I finally asked someone what was going on and she said, "You did not hear the announcement? They are moving all of us to City Hall...there is a tornado coming."ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? I step out of my tent and sure enough, the sky was flipping green and black. Not good. We debated on quickly taking the tents down. My husband REALLY weights me down, but even I know his stuff would not stand up to a tornado, lol. My husband's friend was with us and he majored in meteorology. He was watching the sky saying it really looked like it was moving around us, so I trusted him. Amazingly, it literally went around the show and regrouped on the other side of us. After all the drama I turned to him and said, "Wait, I thought your degree was in agricultural economics." He said, "Yeah, I sucked at meteorology and switched majors." Saturday was beautiful and then Saturday night was super stormy. I walked up Sunday morning half covering my eyes, seeing if my stuff was still there. It was, but both tents were majorly sagging with water. I was able to get it all off (in the process dousing me to the point where it looked like I just got out of a pool) only to contend with the 20+mph winds. It was pretty scary at times. Many of the vendors simply had to pack up and leave because the wind was literally taking their tents like something out of the Wizard of Oz. I heard a lot of folks lost a lot of product. I think I made a whopping $120 in sales on Sunday, but again, after Saturday, it was not a biggie.Oh and the gutter for the two ezups worked like a charm. I highly recommend it to anyone using two 10x10 tents at shows. I may put it on the classies because seeing how stretched my canvases were from the rain, I may finally just break down and get a 10x20.It was shows like this one that make me so glad I only do three outdoor shows a year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gloworm Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 That's so great that you did so well considering the economy and all. Gives us all hope for the upcoming season.Glo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunkie68 Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Hooray for a good show, weather and economy notwithstanding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heirloomoriginals Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Glad it went well and you didn't lose anything!Steph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Dang woman! Glad you were pleasantly surprised and no tornado! I love the outdoor shows and still in tornado alley, but I hear ya about weighting things down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VerticallyEnhanced Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 We had about 30 lbs on each leg and then we had the center section strapped down to a 5 gallon bucket full of cement using ratchet ties. There were a couple of gusts where I thought for sure the tents were going to twist and collapse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsmejeffd Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 I agree, Sunday was not the best weather for the show. We were at the same show and weren't even able to set up in the morning because of the wind. We had a 45 lb weight strapped to each leg of our tent and it was still being blown down the street. If it wasn't for the wait staff at the restaurant across the street, I don't think I could have held the tent by myself. My wife had to hurry our 4-year-old son into one of the local businesses for safety because there was debris being blown down the street amid the occasional tent.What really pissed me off is that while the local business owners and customers were helping the vendors hold their tents down, the hired security officers ran for cover.My wife is composing a nice little letter to the security company with all their names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasBrat Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Don't let her fool you, she was prepared for a flood, she had fun-nodles stashed away at the top of her tent. It was good to see you at the show and my pipe dreams candle smells amazing. I forgot to smell the watermelon, I think that's the one those girls I sent ya bought. I didn't realize it was so windy on Sunday, I guess I'm glad I headed out Saturday even though it was late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VerticallyEnhanced Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 Yeah, the swim noodles helped prop my tent up and in case that did not work and the rains came, I could just float away on the noodles. They really did help, though. The two corners that caught rain are the two that did not have the noodles. Still trying to figure out how my hubby got SIX out of "get me eight" when he called from wallyworld asking how many noodles I wanted. :rolleyes2 Yup, they snagged my last watermelon. Believe it or not, after you left there was a another pretty big run. I think it really slowed down about 8??? I kinda lost track of time, lol. It was so good seeing ya! :highfive: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VerticallyEnhanced Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 BTW Jeff, anxious to see the letter when you are through! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraciS Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Congrats on the good show and surviving the weather! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsmejeffd Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 BTW Jeff, anxious to see the letter when you are through!Lisa's concocting that one. I'll make sure you see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForHisGlory Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 We were at a Christmas show this past year and it was extremely windy. Tents blowing everywhere. This woman and her husband were selling all kinds of pretty jewelry.A big gust of wind blew their cash box over, it hit the street, broke open and thousands of dollars were blowing down the street!!!Horrible!!! I couldn't have felt more sorry for them.Glad you had a good show!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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