Arts Fair on the Square in Bloomington, Indiana was such a great experience! We received great response from the crowd, so many compliments on our booth set up and seeing all our hard work come to fruition was awesome!
100 regional artists, crafters, makers and so much more were lined up around the Monroe County Courthouse yesterday. The morning started off raining and threatened thunderstorms throughout the day, but it cleared off by around 9:30am just in time for the fair to officially start at 10am. We started setting up at 8am though, so we were drenched running back and forth from the truck with everything. Luckily, I made a few great investments at Meijer the night before in anticipation of this (see image above for flowery rain boots and cheap towels on the chair in the back.)
Jonathan did a great job wrapping everything up tightly in a tarp as well, so display stuff was safe! I couldn't have done any of this without him. I love how our display came together through his hard work creating the peg board and table top display and my running around random places and hoping to find stuff that fits my aesthetic for my Wild Souls. Also the ivy garland seen around the canopy legs and other places is courtesy of our wedding this past August. :)
My favorite part of the art fair was experiencing everyone's first reactions to my illustrations. It is so uplifting to work so hard on something and then see that moment of it brightening a person's face. Hearing comments such as, "Wonderful Wild Souls... I love that name." and "I love the experience you have created here!" is really satisfying after long hours of ideating, creating, planning, packaging and so many other little things that go into making something like this happen.
We were also so blessed to be visited by friends and family (special thanks to Casey, Taylor, Ross and Asher for bringing us coffee. <3 Life savers!) These visits throughout the day kept our spirits high when our energy was running low. (More special thanks to my parents for grabbing us lunch while we were busy tending to customers! Continued special thanks to my sister who was on call all weekend and couldn't make it, but was there in spirit.)
The staff of the art fair were also amazing! They were so attentive and handed out water several times and asked if we needed anything at all. It was a great first experience being a vendor at an art fair. I'll hopefully be back next year!
I have always loved attending art/craft fairs and never thought I would be on the other side of the booth. It has proved to be a rewarding, exhausting, exhilarating and special experience! I look forward to many more.
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2 comments
Yes, tons of compliments! :) Everyone had such great things to say, it was a great first experience.
The booth looks SO GOOD!! Any compliments on the sign?