Fairbanks fair
I'm taking lots of pics, but haven't had time to down load them yet. Our first day went AMAZINGLY well, a huge record-breaker for me!  I'm now a little scared about whether I brought enough work to last the whole 9 days of the show! Almost EVERY one of my large originals sold the opening day. Holy crap!
Abby has slipped right into her usual comfortable routine here, as usual, (go visit the livestock pens in the morning, eat lots of popcorn off of the ground, then sleep all day in the trailer  ), but Eggbert is a little freaked...too distracted to eat, doesn't want to go poo in an unfamiliar place, has developed a complete terror of chickens.... Yes, you read that right...chickens. The field where I take then to go potty is close to the "Cluck Hut", the building that houses the poultry competitions, and the crowing of roosters in the morning scares the heck out of him! My poor sensitive boy!  Well, he's just going to have to get over it, were here for another 10 days! |
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Think of it this way...if you run out of paintings, youve done your job and done it well....enjoy the rest of the fair, but dont spend all of the money..lol.....tell eggbert that chickens are birds...and to go GET them....panda will show him how if he wants......  |
| I agree with Darcy about running out of artwork.
Then you just call it a MAJOR success. 
That is so funny about Bert. Poor guy, I bet there are lots of scary chickens. |
| CONGRATULATIONS Now see you don't have nearly as much to pack up to go home |
| Congradulations Laurel that everything is going so well. woo hoo! I hope it is a record breaker for you, and you sell everything out...
Poor Bert...sheepie/Aussie hugs. |
| Congrats Laurel!!!
That is wonderful news about your artwork selling like hotcakes.
Poor Eggbert, I hope he gets over his chicken phobia and settles in. |
| What wonderful news! Continue to have fun! |
 I wish I could be there to share the fun. I do miss the fair life. OK I miss the evenings and mornings. Scott's special smoothies, followed by that special coffee blend that got me through the weekend crowd maham.
   I am glad you continue to improve the world art supply.
Tell everyone hello. |
| I'm so glad you're selling so much!!
But, I hope things get better for poor Bert. He needs to learn how to relax and enjoy the popcorn like Abby.
Eat a lot and have fun! p.s. I found falafel king! Yum..  |
| Congrats!! That's great news!! I hope you have the best show ever. |
| Hi thats great your doing so well. I wish you could come to an Ohio fair Maybe you should get Bert a stuff animal chicken |
| A triumphant HA-HAA! Looks like all the hard work paid off and you were right, the worse the build-up, the better the fair!
Hope Eggbert gets used to the chickens, at least he's not trying to eat them. It's great that you are doing so well Good luck for the rest of the fair! |
| Congratulations Laurel
Hope the success continues! |
| That's awesome, Laurel! There could be a lot worse things than selling out too early!
Poor Eggbert...chicken ARE scary...I was driving to work today and there was a whole 6-story big rig FULL of chickens...man are they ugly! |
| Sold her paintings, RV, dogs, scott.... |
Ron wrote: Sold her paintings, RV, dogs, scott....
tempting! You'd have to pay me a LOT for the dogs though
Well its Tuesday...day 5 of the fair. Day 3 of nonstop RAIN  Fortunately rain doesn't slow Fairbanks customers down at all . I, on the other hand, have already had my first minor case of hypothermia  (Fairbanks rain is COLD!). I'm now at the point where I'm working my booth in three layers of shirts, long underwear under my jeans, a hat and rubber boots . The forecast claims its going to clear up today....we'll see. The weird thing about Fairbanks is, that when it rains, or the sun is down it gets very cold, but with the sun out its super HOT! 90 degrees in the day, and below freezing at night is not unheard of! Sunburn and hypothermia at the same time....wheee!
we've also had an unusually large number of "neighbor" problems this year. Usually all of the booth people camped around us are old familiar friends, and everyone works very hard to get along and help each other, but this year we have a couple of new people who are being JERKS! One guy has a young, ill-mannered GSD who not only lunges aggressively at other dogs, but who he also refuses to clean up after. This morning I cleaned up several days worth of HIS dogs poo, so that MY dogs wouldn't get blamed. I left the neatly bagged poo on his doorstep with a nasty note . On one side of our booth, there is a messaege therapy booth run by a group of people who are apparently under the impression that they can annex any unguarded space belonging to other people as their own. We arrived to set up our booth to find them camping halfway (8 feet)into OUR camping area , and with their booth set up almost a foot into our space. We asked them politely to shift, so that we could get out trailer in behind our booth, and be able to set up our booth, and they refused! Fortunately, the fair organizers stepped in and informed them that this was NOT an option. Then, yesterday, we found out that they have been plugging their phone line into other peoples (paid for!)phone jacks to get free access for their phone and visa machine...meaning that those folks kept getting a busy signal when THEY went to use their visa machines!
GRRRR! sorry to be ranting, but I'm SO fed up with these jerks! 
If it would JUST stop raining, Id be much less cranky! |
| Post their pictures please |
| I want to see a pic of the poo guy when he opened his door and probably stepped in those neat bags lol
I also want to see a pic of you with sunburn AND pneumonia. Sorry. But that does sound really funny
Hope the weather gets better soon, I'm sure God is going to sort out those jerks...I have a feeling about it |
 Just when you thought it was safe to not arrive a week in advance.  The weather here has improved and is in the 70s.
A little story to amuse you. We were so excited at the museum to get the new cave bear on exhibit. Called the news crews and papers to come see us put the head on it and call it complete. As Chris was answering questions about it, she noticed that it seem to be looking over her sholder. It had been over eight foot tall when installed, but now was leaning over and it's head was just about five foot up. Luckly the news people were leaving. It took hours to get it up, it took a little over five minutes to get it down and packed. The base of the frame holding it, and had been used for atl east the last six months at it's previous home, had suffered from metal fatigue. The welds at the bottom were spliting. We are making a new frame with plate steel. When you work in a museum sometimes you are not sure if the exhibits are moving. In this case it was. |
liz rodes wrote: :lmt: When you work in a museum sometimes you are not sure if the exhibits are moving. In this case it was.
eek! |
.....day.....8.... 
The rain stopped, the sun came out, and now its hotter than the hubs of hell! Ive added heat exhaustion to my litany of whines and woes...
I also (as is normal for this point in a long show) hate loath and despise the general public is a way that is impossible to fully express on a "family Friendly" forum!
Otherwise, all is going well....the fair is looking to be my best ever The dogs are taking everything in stride, (it helps that we found a nearby dog park to take them to for exercise) and the new trailer is working out wonderfully. I have SO many stories I could tell, but I think I'll wait till I can get pics on to illustrate them! |
| It feels like you've been there longer!
Hopefully it cools down there for you! I couldn't believe it when I put lil J in his carseat and felt like I was suffocating in the hot car. For a sec, it reminded me of TX! Funny since it's really only in the 70s.
Looking forward to lots of pics with stories!!! You're the best storyteller! |
LAST DAY!!!!!! 
Wish me luck! I wanna go outta here with a bang! |
| LOTS OF LUCK, Laurel! |
| I hope you are having a great last day.
Good luck with the pack-up and have a safe drive back home. |
| Can we change that to going out with a hurray. A bang is tempting fate.
Looking forward to see you when you return, and telling you my boring stories. 
liz I seem not to be logged in.  I really need to look at what my status is when I deside to respond.
Enjoy your trip back. |
Home at last. 
Our final day went very well, we broke our previous sales record for this fair, and the drive home was uneventful. I have NEVER seen such happy dogs as ours, when they hopped out of the truck and ran into their own yard!
As is semi-traditional, I got sick on the last evening in Fairbanks, so I'm spending today on the couch with lots of kleenex and cold meds. My next big fair starts a week from Thursday, so I HAVE to get well quick!!!!
Sigh....its super good to be home, though!  |
| Reading of your weather woes has just reinforced to me how happy I am to be out of Fairbanks! Although its roasting here, currently 101, I am soooo much happier. If the army tried to send us back to Fort Wainwright, it would get ugly! |
| Welcome home! Get your 10 minutes of rest, start preparing for next fair. |
cyakins wrote: Reading of your weather woes has just reinforced to me how happy I am to be out of Fairbanks! Although its roasting here, currently 101, I am soooo much happier. If the army tried to send us back to Fort Wainwright, it would get ugly!
Fairbanks weather can be a killer...both in winter AND summer! We lived in FBX for several years, and I cant say as I miss that aspect of it....however, FBX people are some of the most wonderful anywhere! I actually had a customer this year who not only spent thousands of dollars on my artwork, but then came out after the show had ended to help us break down and pack!  I have others who brought us home cooked meals, offered to give us breaks or walk our dogs. I'm often a little overwhelmed by the warmth of the Fairbanks public, in fact! |
ravenmoonart wrote: I actually had a customer this year who not only spent thousands of dollars on my artwork, but then came out after the show had ended to help us break down and pack!
WOW, that's awesome! I'm sure the extra help was needed after such a big show! |
| That is great you all made it home.
I guess it's a quick rest up, then back to finishing and packing! |
| Congrats on such a successful show! I wish we lived closer- I would love to see your work. Do you have a site that I could go to and view your originals? |
| Scratch the above request for the web address... Geez- I must be blind! Looking at it right now |
Abuckie wrote: Congrats on such a successful show! I wish we lived closer- I would love to see your work. Do you have a site that I could go to and view your originals?
No originals on the web site (yet ...its still under construction) just my hand done prints. here a a couple of originals
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Wonderful! Thanks for sharing. You are very talented!  |
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