Decision Made

When I look back over my history of attending both retail and wholesale shows for the past 15-plus years, I think that this is the first time that I didn't tough it out to the end.

This weekend was the New Brunswick Crafts Council Fine Crafts Festival in Rothesay. It is a nice show with wonderful artisans in attendance, but because it is an outdoor event we are always at the mercy of the weather. In the past, we have been windblown, which is disastrous for pottery displays, the artisans have chased jewelry across the field, and weavers and fabric designers get blown away and bleached out as we all stand nonchalantly at the corners of our tents trying to look calm as we wonder which gust of wind will finally take it away into the neighbours' glass display. Some years it just rains and other years we all bake in the hot sun. This year in the span of two days we had all.

If I hadn't looked at the weather radar this morning, I might have decided that the weather was going to improve quickly and stick it out... at 3PM it is still raining there according to the highway webcam in the area. Not spending the entire day cold and wet is a good thing in my book even though it does affect the quality of the show. The quality of which is determined in part by the quantity of vendors, which was rapidly decreasing at our arrival on site this morning. A few other artisans with weather sensitive goods had already decided that they weren't staying for the day prior to a quick meeting held to gather a consensus about shutting down the show.

In brief, there are many artisans that are just getting to the point of not wanting to be at the mercy of the weather, product is too easily damaged and costly to rebuild, replace, or repair. A lot of time is lost from regular production when you have to clean up everything including product, tents and tablecloths in the days following a show. Besides, very few people enjoy shopping in the rain and no one likes to sit in a tent for hours with nothing to do except watch the rain.

I repeat, the show is good, the artisans wonderful, the NBCC is certainly putting in a fantastic effort but it is the weather that is going to inevitably kill the outdoor crafts festivals as more and more artisans become reluctant to exhibit at outdoor venues. I know that I am now among them after just a few short years of trying this event.

In balancing the real costs against the income from the events, with the prospect of loosing productivity and revenues because of the increasingly unpredictable summer weather, add to that the wear and tear on the nerves from just the wind, and it starts to look like a 'never again' kind of thing. If anything, this weekend's experience was far from bad, it was just another lesson and I know that I am not as hardy and stubborn as I used to be which also means that I look after myself better than I once would have. I appreciate being warm and dry.
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