Arts and Music Festival

This past weekend, I had a booth at the Quiet Waters Arts and Music Festival in Annapolis, Maryland. The festival was set in the gardens that surround the visitor center. It is a really beautiful setting! The weather forecast stated rain and thunderstorms for the whole weekend-yikes! It rained, I mean poured, all day Friday and I prepared for a wet weekend. Well the craft show stars must have been in alignment, because the rain stopped just as the festival began Saturday morning! In fact, it didn't rain until later that evening and then stopped on Sunday morning, just as day two was starting!

This is the first large craft show that I have participated in, so I was not sure what to expect. My husband (he helped me on both days!) and I were planning on it being a slow weekend because of the weather forecast. Wow, were we ever wrong-both days were amazing! I had almost a non-stop flow of people visiting my booth. All of them had such wonderful things to say about both my jewelry and my displays. The majority of them commented that they liked my jewelry because it was unique and very different from other jewelry that they have seen! I could only dream of comments like that! To have people tell you that they love your art is such an amazing experience. I create pieces that I love and would wear, but to have others feel the same way is an absolute gift!

 My husband bought me an outdoor rug that really gives it a welcoming feel. He also helps me display the jewelry on the tables-he has a fantastic eye for it! I have given him the title of  "Creative Director"!

I created some necklace displays from fallen tree branches. They add a fun, natural touch. I also painted wooden letters to add a little "creativity" to the tables.

Before the show, I had searched for small pebbles to place on my plates. After not finding something I liked, I thought I would try dried peas and beans-worked beautifully. A lot of customers joked that I could make soup after the show was over!

This was the view from our booth! One of the beautiful sculpture gardens.

All in all it was a wonderful experience! The weather, while very humid, turned out to be quite nice. The event was well organized and volunteers of the festival stopped by everyone's booth throughout the two days to see if breaks were needed. I got to meet some amazing artisans (including a lampwork bead artists I will post about in a few days), spend two days in a beautiful park and had the wonderful opportunity to sell my jewelry to some of the nicest people I have ever met! Plus, I had set a sales goal for the weekend and nearly doubled it! I don't mean to brag, I am just amazed and super excited!

These are some of the different areas that had booths set up. I was so busy throughout both days that I didn't get a chance to take any photos of the festival, so I took some photos of the beautiful grounds after the event was over.

I have to give thanks to Lori Anderson for sharing her experience of craft shows with me as well as the excellent advice of having a lot of earrings to sell. She was spot on! Lori: my husband thought your suggestion was a really great idea! Thank you for being so generous with your information.

I also have to once again thank my ultra supportive husband. He helped me set up, ring up all transactions so I could take care of packaging, let me take several breaks, disassemble everything and carry all of the heavy stuff! He also made sure the jewelry was well organized and displayed nicely, filling in any empty spots after a piece had sold. He really is the best-I am very lucky!