Rained Out!
As many shows as I’ve done, this was the first to be completely rained out. For almost all day Saturday, and half the day Sunday, it rained and rained without a single pause. When the rain did stop on Sunday, Winter Park was forecasted to have winds of 20 miles per hour, and then begin raining again. On Sunday morning, I began to pack up and cut my losses while their was a small break in the weather. This is very unusual weather, since the show is known to almost always have perfect weather year after year.
Because I have such a great response from patrons at the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival in the Spring, I was extra excited about the Autumn festival, and spent nearly 100 hours framing and printing new photographs. When the weather reared its ugly head, I could only keep a few large pieces up. Surprisingly, I liked the way my booth looked with less pieces hanging on the wall.
Sunday
A few die-hard art patrons came out on Sunday morning to purchase artwork from the few of us left, including one Patron Purchase Award from the Mayflower. This left me in high spirits when I left the festival on Sunday, especially since I almost decided to break down my tent on Saturday, but stuck it out until Sunday.
I took no pictures of the event, because I was so completely soaked that I didn’t bring a camera, nor did I want to risk ruining my phone.
Some Lessons
I focussed way too much on creating new artwork and not on preparing for the festival itself – namely bringing extra clothes and heavy duty rain gear. I had great luck last year of setting up in the rain only once, but this time I had to break down and set up in heavy rain. I was wet all day Saturday, and should have been more prepared.
Winter Springs Next Weekend
Next weekend I’ll be at the 4th Annual 2011 Winter Springs Festival of the Arts. Come and check out my booth at 416 in the dead center of the festival, on the north side toward the woods.
