Outdoor vending in the land of mist and rain

The Garden Fair where we were selling our garden art was held on Saturday and Sunday at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby, Oregon—about 30 miles from Portland. I have spent a lot time over the years sitting in a booth as a vendor, whether it be at quilt shows, trade shows, art shows—I even booth-sat at the American Academy of Dermatology when I worked for the National Psoriasis Foundation. It is always fun and you meet nice people and they are, for the most part, in a good mood and are complimentary. Being outdoors, surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers does that to people. It is a great people-watching opportunity as well.

Here's our booth. We were glad we had gotten the canopy—good for rain or sun, and we experienced both.

On Saturday the weather was great—cool but sunny. We watched people go by with their wagons and other conveyances filled with plants and flowers. At one point our friends showed up with their daughter and grandson. Baby Will was enjoying the sights and the people. Isn't that a sweet face? Awwwww.

People who have been to the sale before came prepared with wagons or carts to haul their purchases around. One woman had fashioned a cart by bungee-ing her recycling bin to a luggage wheelie.

Besides our stainless steel garden art, there was a variety of other art, ranging from whimsical to sublime. The woman in the space next to us had glass "spires" created by gluing together a variety of glass vases, platters, etc, gathered from estate sales and resale shops.

She also had concrete spheres and shapes. I wasn't tempted to buy, but I made a mental note of those concrete pieces. I might try my hand at some of those. The one on the iron stand is covered with pennies.

On Sunday I added the colored ribbons to some of our pieces. They seemed to need a little color. Our metal art seemed weensy compared to the giant metal critters in another booth.

Sunday dawned gray and cloudy, but that never keeps an event from happening in Oregon.

You just dress for the weather and carry on as usual. The glass and concrete woman in the next space bailed out. She did not have a canopy and didn't relish sitting in the rain all day. Despite a sweater and a jacket, I got really cold and had to go buy a sweatshirt partway through the afternoon.

I started noticing the range of footgear. You see it all. The red clogs at the lower right are my feet. They are waterproof Quarks—perfect for the day. I didn't get a picture of the odd Oregonian practice of wearing socks and sandals, but there were plenty of those around as well. Seems like the socks would get pretty soggy.

Sales were slower on Sunday, but we sold pretty well on Saturday and had a good time. I think we'll try it again next year. Next year I will dress warmer.