HERON FESTiVAL and Wildflower Brunch 2009

On April 25-26, 2009 I was in Clear Lake State Park participating in "a celebration of birds, wildlife, and springtime on beautiful Clear Lake". For further information on this event go to... http://www.heronfestival.org/

This is my second time attending this event... I love doing this local fair and supporting this exquisite park and the wonderful organizers who are busy fundraising.

It is also usually my first time 'out and about' in the world at the onset of the outdoor vending season. One never knows what kind of weather we will have... this year, albeit very cold in the early morning as set up begins (upper 30s) both days were clear and sunny warming up into the 70s.

Here's a picture of me... wearing a poncho made by Celeste from CelesteCraft.etsy.com

I set up my 10 x 10 booth, as i usually do, with the reinforcement bars that both strengthen the canopy and provide an attachment bar for the bamboo screen walls. The back wall has an awesome rain forest leaf motif fabric curtain which i made and attaches with velcro tabs. It takes about an hour to unload my gear and for me to set up the space... Then I begin the work of setting up the inventory on two tables.... these go against the bamboo walls which act as invaluable wind screens.

The Heron Festival does not require vendors to make all the inventory they sell so... I decided to include some of the cool Peruvian horn jewelry and feature Tagua nut jewelry, Brizel Silk Tapestry Boxes, Hip and Table Pouches.

Mimi looks out the booth... she's quite a looker and is seen here wearing one of the rainbow olive necklaces !

Here is 'the Tagua cascade'... i love how the black velvet displays are offset by the red basket weave fabric... and of course the black offsets all the beautiful Tagua colors!

This is Mari... people always love her wonderful hair... ah... if only i sold wigs... sigh...

And now the Rain forest wall begins... you can now see the Brizel Silk Tapestry Hip Pouches. They certainly make a colorful display and people are always intrigued by them... not quite knowing what they are... until they get closer. It's a good way to draw people in !

Meet Ben... he's wearing a large tagua round bead adjustable necklace... ain't he cute ?

Here are the Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches and you can also see the Brizel Silk Tapestry Boxes displayed on a set of black 'leather' risers.

I decided to bag each one of the Peruvian horn pendants and necklaces. I find that people often like to rummage !

It was lovely to see many of my vendor friends and to sell right next to my special friend Sue... She & Darrell make wonderful gourd birdhouses that are hand painted into charming houses complete with an overhang roof & painted shingles !