The ipod alarm went off at 3:00 am so I could finish loading, prep lunch (salmon patties) & mid-afternoon snacks (Niagara prosciutto & melon), and then hit the road to the Christie Conservation area about 45 min outside of town at Hwys 5 & 6.
It's the crossroads, so put on some Robert Johnson.
It was an easy drive at that hour of the morning and we took our place in the dealers' line to wait for the 5:15 a.m. lifting of the gate to allow the dealers access to the field. Fast and easy check in, found our spot and got to work. I didn't get a chance to walk around and look at other people's stuff because it took me the full three hours to get set up for the 8:00 am opening.
PZ walked around and bought a couple of things but no serious shopping.
Jeff and Wendy Gadsden, the show promoters are seasoned pros at this and the rumours were the crowds were the biggest ever, I'm guessing at 20,000-30,000 shoppers.
By 10:00 am the line-up to make the turn off into the park from HWY6 was about 45 minutes long. The crowds were steady all day long.
People seemed to be shopping because we know that the four cash machines ran out of money and had to be refilled (at least once) but they seemed to be cautious shoppers, no panic buying, people thought about stuff and came back for it after looking at the rest of the field.
A lot of customers from the late lamented Harbourfront Market stopped by, people we hadn't seen in years.
The show, for us, was successful in that I moved a lot of merch I needed to move; in other words, not a huge profit day, but a good cash flow/cost recovery day. I don't know if I have enough merch to warrant taking a spot on my own in September and then renting a vehicle to bring it all to the show. The Explorer just doesn't hold enough to justify the expense.
All in all, the weather was great, I'm so glad we had the tent, a good turnout, we brought our own food and drink and an uneventful load-up and drive home.
And then we did the Sunday Market the next day. So a 4:00 am wake up for that and...
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