I was never somebody who was good at "turning on a dime" and striking out in a different direction at a moment's notice.
However, sometimes it seems that opportunities are presented to us that leaves you with no choice, or at least the choice you should be making it is painfully obvious... and you're a bit of an idiot if you don't seize the opportunity!
When it comes to attending arts and craft shows I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that — even though many shows keep waiting lists when all the spaces have been committed to — the chances that you'll actually get a callback are pretty much close to zero.
This week, we learned that there are — in fact — exceptions!
Our small town's annual "Crafts by the Dock" show is a pretty big deal and it is actually having its 50th anniversary this year. It is a "big deal" because this outdoor events happens on the same weekend as the annual Wooden Boat Festival here in town which is a huge event that often draws up a worldwide audience of boating enthusiasts and pulls in 20,000 to 50,000 people (depending on the weather) over the weekend.
We had long since resigned ourselves to the idea that Alchemy Stones wasn't going to be anywhere near this event in 2022 (we've participated twice, in the past), and then yesterday afternoon my wife serendipitously ended up in a online message conversation with one of the organizers... and next thing you know we were signed up with a confirmed space!
Trial set-up in the back yard!
Getting ready for a two day outdoor show as usually a pretty big project and now we suddenly only have from Tuesday evening till Friday night to get ready for it. And this will actually be our first outdoor show since before COVID.
So we hurriedly pulled out our outdoor event canopy tent from the garage and did a quick "practice set up" in our back yard, just to make sure that everything was working... and indeed it turns out that there were some broken bits in need of attention.
We'd actually lent the canopy to somebody to use for an event and they broke something that has to be fixed. So duct tape to the rescue! I have one other little thing I have to do tomorrow to strengthen some of our roof pinions.
Will we be able to throw together a decent presentation by 10:00 o'clock Saturday morning? Well, we're certainly going to give it a try!
Thankfully, we were at another show (an indoor event) a little over a month ago so the stock is pretty well organized and everything was re-sorted and double checked not too long ago.
Anyway, this was just a quick update because now I need to get back to painting new stones and then packing up for the event and getting all the inventory organized!
Sometimes you just have to be willing to jump at a chance... even when you are totally not feeling prepared.
Thanks for stopping by! Do leave me a comment if you feel so inspired — interaction and engagement are always welcome!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
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2022.09.06 AS-TXT-120/088