We set up on Friday, March 24th in beautiful weather by the "gator pond".
Directly across from us was a porch where fiddlers played cajun and bluegrass all day. Awesome! We arranged the booth, then arranged the inside of the van for sleeping. Hung little curtains all around the windows, inflated the double air mattress, organized our food and painted our faces for the Possum Trot Auction. Ready for the weekend!
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| Annabelle and me Friday evening |
We had a lot of fun at the Possum Trot. Lots of people took pictures of us. Couple of people referred to Annabelle as my "partner". As in, " Are you and your partner going to do face painting tomorrow?" One man even said we were a cute couple. Ha, ha.
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| Booth decorated and ready for sales! |
The night was cool but pleasant. Sleeping was a little challenging since we were on a slight incline and Annabelle's side of the mattress deflated at around 4 am. But we were up early, made-up our faces, set-up Annabelle's sugar skull face painting supplies and we were ready for business!
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| The day was beautiful and warm! |
There was a steady crowd and tons of cool music, folk art and funky people to see. I had so many great comments on my dolls and on all of my work really. My favorite was a woman who came back after an hour saying she loved just standing in my booth because it made her happy. That was so nice to hear. When you are creating in your studio week after week and only your family tells you that your stuff looks good, it's nice to have people who don't know you respond to your work and "get" where you are coming from.
By 3:30, I had sold about 10 pieces and many people were "making the rounds" to see what they were going to spend their cash on. Annabelle had painted a half a dozen faces and took a break to walk around and take pictures. Around four my dad called to ask if I was ok. I said yes, great actually! Why? He said they were having a helluva storm up in Atlanta and tornado warnings were all over Alabama. I said really? It's sunny here. Sprinkled a couple of times but nothing big. He said to be sure and move my car if the rain came so I didn't end up in the gator pond. Ha, ha! Thanks dad!
His call did get me up and out of my booth. I looked up and saw a dark cloud to my left and texted Annabelle to get back in case rain came. I slid everything from under my car so I could drive it up beside my booth. I parked really close to the booth in case we needed to get in during the rain. But honey, I didn't roll up my window or close my car door because all hell broke loose. The rain came so fast with HUGE drops with an unbelievable wind! Everything was blowing sideways.
Annabelle was running into the booth, grabbing a tarp and spreading it open when a mini-tornado/massive thunderstorm struck. Everything on my shelves started flying so we grabbed things as they fell and threw them into the center of the booth on the tarp. The wind was pulling the metal walls apart and my lovely canvas & burlap walls every which a way and the RAIN was torrential! Annabelle and I were grabbing the paintings and dolls as fast as we could and piling them in the tarp. I cannot tell you how soaked everything was getting! Earlier in the day when it had rained, I and other customers stood in the booth and talked. If it had rained harder, I was planning on calmly packing all of my stuff away in the suitcases I had stacked in the booth. I had NO TIME. I will admit, I am almost always in control of a situation. I can usually think ahead, prepare, and I am calm in stressful situations. Geez, I survived a hurricane in Florida in 2005. But NOT OUTSIDE! So I lost it a little...so did my poor Annabelle.
She said it best. "It was like you were a mother bird and we spent all this time preparing the nest for your babies and then a storm came and we were trying to save them all and couldn't!"
Part of the reason we had to stop removing items from the walls was because we had to gather up the tarp. The ground was flooding underneath our feet. Luckily an angel appeared, Lisa Shoemaker. A Doo-Nanny veteran I had met earlier that morning. She said she was riding out the storm and helping others when she remembered me and it that was my FIRST festival. She ran to find us both crying in my booth, soaking wet, holding a tarp full of my art. She said later, she wished she had a photo of how pitiful we looked!
Lisa helped us dry off the items as the rain subsided. We decided then I should return home so that I could "dry-out" my dolls and wet paintings. Most vendors had items that were ok to get wet. Not mine. Also, Lisa explained if I was going to do outdoor festivals I would need to invest in the $1,000 tents that completely zip shut on all sides. Even though, several of those tents didn't work in this storm. It came so quick, the artists couldn't get their side down fast enough.
So long story short, we had to repack the car with all of the wet stuff I had slid out so I could move the car; load 5 soaking wet cloth walls; my door and window had been left open so my drivers's side was wet. We had to search and gather Annabelle's face painting supplies. She had covered them with a tarp but all of it just blew away. We found a few things. And to top it off, my car wouldn't start. So angel Lisa helped us jumped start it, twice! We left at 9:30 pm to make the 3 hour drive back home. Again, in a torrential downpour.
All in all, it was an incredible experience. We made our money back for doing the show and a little profit, made some new friends, and learned a valuable lesson from Mother Nature. When we got home, this before and after of one of my dolls sums up the show.
By 3:30, I had sold about 10 pieces and many people were "making the rounds" to see what they were going to spend their cash on. Annabelle had painted a half a dozen faces and took a break to walk around and take pictures. Around four my dad called to ask if I was ok. I said yes, great actually! Why? He said they were having a helluva storm up in Atlanta and tornado warnings were all over Alabama. I said really? It's sunny here. Sprinkled a couple of times but nothing big. He said to be sure and move my car if the rain came so I didn't end up in the gator pond. Ha, ha! Thanks dad!
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| Face painting by Annabelle |
His call did get me up and out of my booth. I looked up and saw a dark cloud to my left and texted Annabelle to get back in case rain came. I slid everything from under my car so I could drive it up beside my booth. I parked really close to the booth in case we needed to get in during the rain. But honey, I didn't roll up my window or close my car door because all hell broke loose. The rain came so fast with HUGE drops with an unbelievable wind! Everything was blowing sideways.
Annabelle was running into the booth, grabbing a tarp and spreading it open when a mini-tornado/massive thunderstorm struck. Everything on my shelves started flying so we grabbed things as they fell and threw them into the center of the booth on the tarp. The wind was pulling the metal walls apart and my lovely canvas & burlap walls every which a way and the RAIN was torrential! Annabelle and I were grabbing the paintings and dolls as fast as we could and piling them in the tarp. I cannot tell you how soaked everything was getting! Earlier in the day when it had rained, I and other customers stood in the booth and talked. If it had rained harder, I was planning on calmly packing all of my stuff away in the suitcases I had stacked in the booth. I had NO TIME. I will admit, I am almost always in control of a situation. I can usually think ahead, prepare, and I am calm in stressful situations. Geez, I survived a hurricane in Florida in 2005. But NOT OUTSIDE! So I lost it a little...so did my poor Annabelle.
She said it best. "It was like you were a mother bird and we spent all this time preparing the nest for your babies and then a storm came and we were trying to save them all and couldn't!"
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| Aftermath. Didn't take many photos. |
Part of the reason we had to stop removing items from the walls was because we had to gather up the tarp. The ground was flooding underneath our feet. Luckily an angel appeared, Lisa Shoemaker. A Doo-Nanny veteran I had met earlier that morning. She said she was riding out the storm and helping others when she remembered me and it that was my FIRST festival. She ran to find us both crying in my booth, soaking wet, holding a tarp full of my art. She said later, she wished she had a photo of how pitiful we looked!
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| We had someone stop us (looking like this) to ask, "Hey, are ya'll still doing the face painting?" To which Annabelle just stared and said, "No." She just replied, "Oh. Bummer." She continued walking in the rain. |
Lisa helped us dry off the items as the rain subsided. We decided then I should return home so that I could "dry-out" my dolls and wet paintings. Most vendors had items that were ok to get wet. Not mine. Also, Lisa explained if I was going to do outdoor festivals I would need to invest in the $1,000 tents that completely zip shut on all sides. Even though, several of those tents didn't work in this storm. It came so quick, the artists couldn't get their side down fast enough.
So long story short, we had to repack the car with all of the wet stuff I had slid out so I could move the car; load 5 soaking wet cloth walls; my door and window had been left open so my drivers's side was wet. We had to search and gather Annabelle's face painting supplies. She had covered them with a tarp but all of it just blew away. We found a few things. And to top it off, my car wouldn't start. So angel Lisa helped us jumped start it, twice! We left at 9:30 pm to make the 3 hour drive back home. Again, in a torrential downpour.
All in all, it was an incredible experience. We made our money back for doing the show and a little profit, made some new friends, and learned a valuable lesson from Mother Nature. When we got home, this before and after of one of my dolls sums up the show.
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| Mommy Dearest Before |
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| After - We think she looks even better! |
