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Hot, hot, hot – a major sweat builder … that’s how I would describe this show.  The day started out with an 80+ mile drive from our cabin in Northern Minnesota to Brainerd.  Normally, I love this drive but we had rain all day on Saturday and the fog made the driving treacherous.  The show was to start at 10:00 AM, which means that you better be ready to sell at 9:00 AM.  We arrived at the park at 7:30 AM and found that we couldn’t get into the park with our vehicle as so many were already there.  We pulled up as close as possible and my husband started moving tent, grid walls and boxes of glass from the car to our spot in the park.  My husband was an unfortunate volunteer at this event, normally my son comes and helps me or I do the show alone, but I had major back surgery last January and I still have a weight limit requirement – the tent alone was double that limitation! 

Off we went, setting up, draping tables, working like banshees to get everything done.  The weather kept getting hotter (89 degrees) and more humid. I put up a couple of stained glass panels and turned around, they were gone … nope, not stolen, a couple (return customers from last year) had walked up and took them off the walls to hold them up to the sun.  By 8:30 AM, I had sold two panels … I was thinking, “This will be a great day!”  By 10:30 AM my booth fee was covered.  By 2:00 PM, I finally got a spot of lunch and started talking to other artists … the heat was on, literally and figuratively.  In talking with other artists, they weren’t selling … I felt embarrassed, because I was, but most of the sales were in the $50 and under category.  I’ve done this show many times and had learned that you better have those $50 and under items because the people purchasing at this show are mostly cabin owners … they like to buy, but they like the smaller items, lots and lots of smaller items!

I was lucky this time … this year I worked on small stuff because doing the large stuff was too hard to do after back surgery … and what I did sold.  One of my neighbor artists didn’t sell anything (I’ve been there before) and another discounted all his artwork to ensure that he sold enough to cover his booth fee, not something that I recommend. 

However, my best, and most thought provoking, sale of the day was an $18 sale … a young teenager in a wheelchair came by, being pushed by his mother, and accompanied by his two sisters.  His mother explained that he loved color and insisted that he come into the booth (he was using sign language and you could see how adamant he was to visit my booth).  His mother was discouraging him as he had muscle tremors and this was a booth full of glass.  I encouraged the family to bring him in and started talking to him, with his mother translating.  He kept grabbing for a sun catcher, the piece consists of seven stars cascading downward.  I held the piece up for him and he pointed at colors and tried to verbalize the color out loud.  I got into the mix with the family, “So what color is this?”  “RED”, “And this one?” “GREEN,” And this one, “LOVE.”  Love?  His mother translated his next words; he LOVED the piece and wanted it.  No, Mom was not going to purchase it but he had enough money in his pocket if he wanted to buy it … he did.  I carefully bubble wrapped his purchase and put it into the bag and turned back to the young man and thanked him.  His response?  Through sign language, with his mother translating, he said:  “Thank you for treating me like a human, I am trapped in this body, but it doesn’t mean that I am not smart.”  I walked around the counter and gave him a hug and told him, he had made my day … I didn’t care if I sold another item; I had received my blessing for the day.  Thank you to my young friend for reminding me that customers come in all shapes, colors and bodies!  I cannot wait to see him again next year and promised to have another “Love” piece just for him. 

So now I guess I better start designing the piece because I really do mean to give him a piece that says, “LOVE”, in many colors!