Blog - Individual Festival Blogs

Bear Paw Sticks & Staffs, Boyce, LA

Outdoor venue with lots of resale; very disappointing sales; other vendors said it was the worst year they'd ever seen for foot traffic & lack of sales. Weather was a factor; Friday & Saturday it either rained or threatened to do so, & was very hot & humid; Sunday turned chilly & was rained out; we lost the whole day. The promoters were extremely nice & accomodating; they provided very good lunches/dinners to the vendors (delivered to our setups!) on Thursday (setup) and Saturday. We could park the trailer and truck right behind our setup; very convenient & helpful to us older semi-handicapped vendors! EMT's came by our setup regularly to check if we needed cold water & ice, or other medical assistance. There were even "booth sitters" made available if we wanted to take a little time & go watch some of the performances. David had a blast reuniting with old military buddys from his Viet Nam service days; there was 1 special 30-minute program each day honoring the military veterans & he was asked to participate. He was plumb tickled! Lot rent is $175 for 20'X20' and includes good security & electricity, but byo extension cords. We barely made lot rent, not to mention hotel, food, & gas, so we don't know about next year. We can afford only so much prestiege!