Craft Shows, and Other Disasters
Since starting Leah’s Lavender Gardens I have done four craft shows, and the biggest one yet was the first weekend in April. I paid the $500 registration fee back in December and spent the winter planning and soaping, labeling and wrapping. I had 300 bars of soap curing underfoot on the floor of the spare room, and ate all meals in front of the TV because piles of supplies and boxes of botanicals were occupying the dining table. I set my booth up in the garage and agonized over table arrangements, ordered special clip-on spotlights and display pieces, and spent spring break arranging and rearranging to find the most attractive spot for every soap.
Turns out I have mice in my garage. A couple days before the show I discovered that mice had eaten all the pumpkin seeds off the top of the pumpkin spice display soaps, and the oatmeal off the top of the milk and honey soaps! I found little tooth marks on a couple other soaps, so all of those were a disgusting loss and got thrown out before I even made it to the show. I lost about 30 bars of soap total, which was discouraging, but I remained undaunted and was determined to carry on.
I took Friday off work to spend three full days at the craft show. I was off to a solid start on Friday morning and even had a couple friends visit to support my efforts, but then a late March combination blizzard/hail storm hit in the afternoon and all Minnesotans decided to stay home and not brave the snow and the hail to get to the craft show, for which I do not blame them. So I waited quietly in my booth for the customers who were not coming, and amused myself by moving the bowls of potpourri around to avoid the drips from the leaking ceiling. I risked my life on the snowy roads to get home Friday night, and then risked it again on the icy roads to get back Saturday morning. Regardless, I made it and started day two with hope in my heart.
The sun came out on Saturday and by afternoon the roads were clear and customers decided to come to the craft show. By the end of the day I had earned back my registration fee and was feeling relieved in spirit, but then realized I wasn’t feeling that well in body. An at-home test in the evening revealed that I had the dreaded covid, and by morning I was as sick as I’ve ever been in my life. I had no business being around people, so I went early-early to the booth and packed up my whole display and whisked it away before anyone showed up. I missed the entire last day of the show, and then missed an entire week of work, spent the next three weeks trying to get my health back on track, and decided I wasn’t going to look at another bar of soap until June. I feel very fortunate that I was able to earn my registration fee back in the little time that I had with customers that weekend, but I have decided it’s going to be a long time before I do another craft show!
