INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 35)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

Working the Show... (Part Three)

8.    Huff and Puff!

Anyone that thinks setting up a bog booth is easy has either never done it or has “staff” to help them. Setting up a booth with a lot of products is even more “interesting”! For most of the shows we exhibited, it was just Judi and me. Fortunately, we loved what we were doing, so the hard work was worth it. We always took a great deal of pride in having a great looking booth!

 

9.    OMG!

When you are packing and planning for a show, sometimes you don’t anticipate the consequences! Unfortunately, this happened all too often! What I am talking about is too much product and too many boxes. It is nice to have extra products (lots) and it’s nice to really pack things well, but most shows don’t provide storage space! And, when you pay a lot for booth space, you want to use as much of it as possible for the display! I can remember many times thinking “what are we going to do! Where will all this stuff go!” It always seemed to work out eventually, but that didn’t stop the initial panic!

INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 35)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

Working the Show... (Part Two)

8.    Hello Dolly...

It’s amazing how every exhibitor wants and needs a “dolly”! However, it seems that shows never have enough! And, of course, the big exhibitors always seem to get preferential treatment. I can remember a number of shows where we had to “steal” a dolly for a few moments! Unfortunately, we normally got caught and had to give it back. There were some nice exhibitors who shared their dollies, but more times than not, we had to make many trips from our vehicle to the booth carrying cumbersome, oversized packages. It was an exhausting experience!

9.    Taking a Pole!

No, I didn’t make a spelling mistake! We didn’t take a poll, we had to deal with a pole! Confused? Judi used to exhibit at a show that housed their booths in a “big top” tent. These poles were needed to hold up the tent. Some of the booths had these tent poles (and I’m talking big tent poles) right in the middle of their set-up area. Remember I told you that we used to plan our booth set-up! This included where we would hang pictures and how many we would hang. You can imagine how a "BIG POLE” would effect your layout!

10. Taking a Break...

We once did a show in Calgary. We had all of our framed prints shipped by air there. The prints were packed carefully and professionally. Two, however, arrived broken! We only discovered the problem a day or two before this major show. Fortunately, we found a fellow art gallery who agreed to repair the prints quickly (and inexpensively). Needless to say they became good friends after that!

INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 35)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

Working the Show... (Part One)

Over the years Judi and I have worked and managed many show booths! The two hardest, but most “interesting” aspects of “Working the Show”, are the “Set-Ups” and the “Take Downs”! To me, the “set-ups” are the hardest. You want to make your booth look “perfect”. The process, actually, starts prior to the show; gathering up materials and products. In our case, fragile framed art. And then, once everything is gathered, it needs to be packed in the car, van or truck neatly and methodically. Also, part of the preliminary process is planning how the booth will look, and where everything will be placed. Arriving early at the festival or show is always a good idea! With everything “perfectly” in place, it’s time for the “set-up”. Nothing can go wrong! Or can it? Here is a list of some of our more “interesting” experiences!

8.    Hurry Up and Wait...

At one show we were required to take our van to an off-site location and then wait to be called to come to the show site. In our show package we were given an exact time to be at the off-site location, plus an approximate time that we would be allowed to drive into the show. It was like being at a doctor’s office. I got there right on time, but there we had to wait two hours before they would allow me to leave for the show site. In the meantime, Judi was at our booth wondering where I was!

INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 34)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

Crossing the Border... (Part Two)

The customs officer asked what we had in the back, and I told them that they were donations to the Ruffed Grouse Society’s banquet. We showed him our paperwork, which was in order, but he told us to drive to the inspections station. Here we anticipated another lengthy wait. These three officers were very uptight, understandably so, and very intense! We drove to the inspection area, where three more officers awaited us! We rolled down our window and one of the officers asked us why we had been sent to him. I told him that we had donations for the Ruffed Grouse Society and that we were on our way to the banquet to volunteer. He raised his eyebrows and asked us why would a “Canadian” do that! I told him why and he lifted his shoulders and laughed! This was in complete contrast to the three officers we had just left! These officers were loose and good natured. Without looking at the prints, he told us that we could go on our way. Before we left, I asked if they knew the telephone area code of Warren, Michigan. We had wanted to call directory assistance to find a telephone number. He looked puzzled and shook his head. He then turned to his colleges. The one man said no, but the woman officer said she knew and told us the number. The other two started to laugh and jokingly asked how she knew that. She just shrugged her shoulder, laughed and told them that it was none of their business! Talk about difference in attitudes! The dinner that we attended was successful, although the attendance numbers were smaller due to 9/11. Crossing back into Canada was a breeze and only took us a few minutes. The whole experience was very interesting, to say the least!