Mount Dora is the cutest little town. There are lots of boutiques and shops to check out during the day. Plus the lake is right near downtown and you can have a great lunch overlooking the water.
It is also usually a really great craft show. My first time at the show was three years ago and it lived up to my expectations. Great crowds, great weather and fantastic sales. Last year we had bad weather so I was down about a third. So THIS year I was really hoping to rebound. BUT, the weather forecast wasn't good for Saturday--usually our big day.
Rod decided to come along to set up. I actually bribed him with dinner at Jeremiahs...amazing how that works. :) We pulled into town about 5pm Friday and were promptly derailed by the MD Police. Usually they let us pull into the little parking lots that dot the town so we can start hauling our stuff to the curb to prepare for setting up. This year, they decided to actually enforce many of the rules.
The trouble with that is that most of us who do the show actually pay a year in advance to guarantee our spots. When you do that, you don't have to apply as usual and you miss seeing the rules and regulations. Over time, you just forget those rules and do what you do at all the other shows--basically what gets you into a spot as quick as possible without getting in the way of other vendors. The MD Police pretty much put an end to that.
The good news, is that when we walked downtown from a parking area about 1/2 mile away, the cop there told us the best spot to get in and what time they were going to open up the baracades to let us in. Armed with that info, we hightailed it back to the car and were able to line up on a street pretty close to where our spot was. The actual line moved really quick once the baracade went up, so no problem.
AND with Rod's help the setup went pretty slick too. This year I moved to a spot across the street from the year before. The old spot was really uneven. We setup on the street and the front of the tent was even only if you set the back up on the curb! So, my tables were up on stilts to be even close to level. I actually had the tables come down twice the year before. NOT GOOD and luckily I was able to request a new spot and actually get it!!!
We zipped up the tent and arrived at the restaurant just before the first of many rain clouds unloaded. Whew!!! Dinner was great even though our eyes were constantly drawn to coverage of the election. WHEN WILL IT BE OVER???
Saturday's forecast was for rain pretty much all day, which always kills the crowds. But the day turned out to be sunny, warm and gorgeous. The morning was cloudy, but, by midmorning the sun was out to stay. The bad news is the crowds were down and so were my sales.
Sunday was much cooler but no rain in sight. The crowds never materialized. So for a show that bills itself as having an attendance of 250,000, the actual crowd was probably 1/3 of that and maybe less. So, while I ended up doing a tiny bit better than the year before, it still wasn't a great show for me.
Many people said they would see me down the road as I will be doing two more shows in the area before the Holidays. Let's hope the sales at those shows REALLY pick up. OH, I forgot to mention: the new Coconut Orange soap was a huge hit.
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