Changing horses

I feel like whining, which was never acceptable growing up –

Today we had a craft fair at a pre-school.  It was touted as an event where lots of parents, grandparents would be in attendance and looking for gifts.  All this turned out to be true, however the orchestration of the event, once again was lacking.  There were a number of vendors, myself included in the back section of the building away from anything that would draw shoppers – technical error on the part of the planner.  If pictures with Santa had been in our area we would have been okay!

I’ve had a lot of experience planning, executing, organizing large events and I know the amount of work involved.  I think it’s safe to say that not everyone is cut out for this job.  Success requires leaving no stone unturned and following up on every last committe person to ensure their attention to detail.  It’s amazing to me how seldom this happens – or maybe it’s just a bad year.

Of the last four craft shows we’ve attended, 3 have been a total waste of time and effort because of poor planning.  However this past weekend we were at the Athens Craftstravaganza which to the credit of Serra Ferguson was very well organized, advertised and executed.  In October we attended a 3 day show for the Junior League of Athens – the attendance was practically non-existent due to poor publicity.

So, changing horses, let’s put a positive spin on this.

We chatted with lots of happy customers last weekend mostly about our Terrapin Beer soap.  Several vendors purchased soap on SAturday only to come back on Sunday and tell us how much they loved it.  One young woman shared that she considers herself to be a lip balm fiend – over the last 15 years she’s tried them all – and she says ours his hands-down the best she’s ever tried.  Eat your heart out Burt’s Bees.  We’ve even had two people tell us that they are Burt’s converts – what a compliment.

The local soap making community feels fairly competitive.  There were two other soapmakers at the event – one selling goat’s milk soap, the other essential oil soaps.  Interesting to note that on the indie craftstravaganza website in the gallery section, there are close up photos of these two companies and not one photo of the Verdae line…hmmm

We’re heading to Whole Foods again tomorrow to do another demo.  Of course there’s a 90% chance of rain – it always rains when I go to Whole Foods.  There have been a few sales especially of the Hoppy Lips beer lip balm – great stocking stuffers.