I was lucky enough to be accepted to participate in the 31st Annual Glen Ridge Arts Festival yesterday. I was in it last year and had a very successful show, so I was looking forward to doing it again. It's always held on the Saturday before Mother's Day and has an excellent turnout since it's a very popular event in the community.
Due to the fact that I waited until the last minute to mail in my application, I only found out Friday morning that I was participating. Last week I started working full-time as a massage therapist so I was counting on my auto-pilot to turn on and sustain me through the routine. It did, and with the help of my 11 year old daughter as my assistant, and a large dose of serendipity, we had a very successful show. Friday night, after an 8 hour shift at my massage therapy job, I loaded my car so we would be ready to go the next day. Saturday morning we made the short drive halfway across town to the event and, with an eye on the sky, set up our space, met our neighbors, and prepared for the day. I sold out of sock monkeys, almost all of my fused plastic lunch bags, and sold a little bit of everything else. It never did rain and I was very pleased overall with the whole day.
One of the best things about doing local craft events is that I'm able to promote my brick and mortar shop. I can tell people who don't know about my new(ish) location and the fact that all my handmade items are available there as well. I've had my shop for 10 years but only introduced my handmade goods there in the last 2 years. People know me for rubber chickens, but it's fun to inform them that they can also find the coolest sock monkeys around at Copabananas. And the fact that they're Montclair Made has great appeal!
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