Monday, August 17, 2015
You may have seen my photo Saturday morning (on Facebook) manning our Pat Buckna Presents booth at Art in the Park. It was drizzling rain but we borrowed a canopy from a friend and another presenter at the Park had a spare tarp to keep my back dry. It rained until after noon but I stayed dry (but not warm) under our booth. Pat was busy all day ferrying our musical guests around town for lunch, a performance at the park, sound checks, supper and finally to the hall for the show. Art in the Park lasted until seven and I had to dismantle most of our booth so I arrived at the show about ten minutes late. Pat had saved me a chair though and I was glad to have a warm place to sit. The show was a sell out – I sold the last advanced tickets at our booth even before they made their afternoon appearance on stage.
Sunday was another crazy day. We set up a bit later (nine rather than eight); Pat returned home to get breakfast for our guests and I sat at the booth until after the noon ferry. The weather was definitely better on Sunday and the cover and tarp kept us out of the sun. Pat played at one and then took a turn at the booth so I was able to wander a bit. There were six information booths (like ours) and over twenty vendors; I managed to squeeze in a bit of Christmas shopping while I was there.
Was it worth it? I think so. We passed out 100 of our House Concert brochures; many people knew nothing about us because we have depended on word-of-mouth and social media. We’ll have to wait and see if all those pamphlets put more bums in seats, but I’m hopeful. We sold quite a few tickets to the next Cranberry Hall event (September 12) and a few tickets for our first House Concert of the year (September 19). Once the sun came out I quite enjoyed the time. If I had come just to see what was going on I probably would have spent half an hour on the grounds; I enjoyed chatting to people (both friends and strangers) throughout the two days.
When the event ended at six yesterday we were ready to collapse. We watched a bit of TV and were heading toward an early bed when the phone rang about 9:30. An old friend of Pat’s from his Calgary days was in town (we had seen her earlier when Pat played his set) and needed a bed for the night. Fortunately (for her and us) the house was still tidy from the Bachand visit on Saturday night; while Pat went out to pick her up I remade the bed, did a quick bathroom clean and found fresh towels. I had never met Sue before; I spent a polite amount of time chatting with her and then I headed to bed and let her and Pat reminisce over old times and old friends.
We drove Sue out to the Saltery Bay ferry about eleven and then drove back to town via a few detours on some back roads. We haven’t spent a lot of time exploring some of the rural areas around town so it was fun. Once we were back in town we dropped off a borrowed table at the Cranberry Hall and then stopped for coffee at Phil and Diane’s; Phil comes here for coffee often but it is nice to stop at their place because we get a visit with Diane. We left with a couple of peppers, a tomato and a huge clove of garlic; Phil has invited himself for chili some night as he still raves about the chili Pat made for one of our pot luck suppers. We’ve decided we should gather a bunch of friends and host a Phil’s Chili Pot Luck night.
I haven’t stitched even one stitch today and the afternoon is almost over. I have a card I must get finished and in the mail tomorrow, and I have just a bit more embroidery to do.