Blog

I was a little apprehensive about this one after Maitland just up the road turned out so poorly. I was also apprehensive about my location right by the entertainment because the last time I was close to that spot I sold nothing at all while the entertainment was going on. I was pleasantly surprised with one of my best central Florida shows so far. The entertainment seems to have been toned down since the last time I was close to it. For the most part I could speak to and hear the people in my booth.

Setup was fairly easy although as I have found in the past, if you show up for setup when they tell you to (1PM) you will find a lot of people already setting up and have a hard time finding a spot to park. I showed up at 11:30AM and found people already setting up but a few times around the block got me a parking place near my booth. Locations in the back of the park can be driven to which makes a very easy setup. I did have to parallel park on the street.

Breakdown was well done and supervised with the main street closed until 7:30. For some reason I ran out of steam and took a lot longer than I usually do for breakdown. At 7:30 I had to repark my van so the street could be opened. A couple of artists helped me finish up and probably saved me from being there until 9. I know them but I don’t know their names and I hope they know how much I appreciated the help.

Sales were pretty steady throughout the day both Saturday and Sunday. Neither day was better than the other. The crowd was smaller than in past years but still pretty heavy.

Amenities were scarce. I got one tiny bottle of water on Saturday and two tiny ones on Sunday. If you were counting on the show to provide your water, you were awfully thirsty. Bathrooms were a bit of a hike but I’ve seen worse and they were at least clean. Breakfast was the usual doughnuts etc. and they were rationing them on Sunday. Weather was very nice. A little warm during the afternoon but not oppressive.