Mom decided to come along to this craft show put on by the same promoter who does the Downtown LaGrange Craft Show. We headed out Friday afternoon--early we thought--to drive down to LaGrange first to pick up a pail of lye from a supplier there. Unfortunately the traffic around O'Hare was horrible resulting in us being about 10 minutes late to pick up the lye. Lucky for us, Deb in the office of Boyer Chemical was very accommodating and she was able to wait for us.
After picking up the lye supply, we were free to explore the area and find the hotel. Our hotel was up in the Itasca area so we opted to drive the local roads there to see if we could find any great places for dinner. We stumbled on Christy's Pancake House where we should have gotten the Friday fish fry, so, we weren't exactly "wow"ed after eating.
The Hotel was a Doubletree Inn just up the road which we found ok. The front desk staff was wonderful and they even give you a couple warm chocolate chip cookies when you check in. Very nice rooms and a nice business center to check email too! We hit the beds early since we were trying to get to Wilder Park to set up by 7 am.
It turns out that the promoter's setup time was 7:30, so we chatted with other vendors for a while before getting down to work. We even found a grocery store to get some sandwiched because it didn't appear they were going to have any food. There were maybe 60 vendors at this show, mainly spread along the sidewalk at the park's edge.
As usual, I wasn't at the sidewalks edge, but rather down in the park with 12 or so other unlucky crafters. Turns out the promoter thought the ground slanted too much at the sidewalk, so, they moved us down where it was flat--and where no one wanted to walk when it was wet. LOL
Saturday was a slowish day with not too much traffic but absolutely gorgeous weather. We made plans to get some copies made after the show and find a place to eat. That turned out to be a hard thing to do--we drove around forever never finding just the right place. In Wood Dale we came upon the "Sweet Baby Rays BBQ" joint and while neither of us were feeling like BBQ, we were happy we did. My St Louis ribs were awesome and Mom enjoyed the baby backs. We ended up getting the copies made at the hotel while we settled in to watch a couple episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress".
Sunday we made it to the show about 10 and were greeted with rain and grey clouds. By 12:30 you could tell it was clearing. By, 1:30 the promoter was telling everyone that this slow moving "storm" wasn't going to clear up until after the show's 4 pm closing time, so we were free to leave. Which of course meant that half the crafters packed up to leave!
Once I am set up and it is raining, I am just not ready to give up. First, your tent's gonna have to be dried out. Second, packing up soap in the rain is very stressful and can lead to lot's of damaged product. And finally, I committed to being there until 4 pm and I needed more customers!
By about 1:45 the sun was out but no one was coming off the sidewalk to shop. SO, Mom and I carried our tables right up to the edge of the sidewalk and Mom proceeded to sell almost as much soap as we had the whole day on Saturday in two hours. The customers couldn't believe that the crafters had left. The promoters had left about 1:35, so, I guess they had another commitment that day. Pretty lousy of them, I thought!
The good news is that by the time we got back to Rockford, Rod was within striking distance of being there! Two months apart is TOO LONG! So glad to see him and be able to spend some time together...finally.
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