Do you see all of the people in this photo with pockets brimming with spare dollars to buy massive amounts of art? NO you don't because, in fact, there were none of those people at this festival. Especially on Friday when I shot this photo, it was pouring rain and cold all day. No people to be seen, except the fools that were the vendors trading art with each other. I just spent countless hours in the past two months making work for this festival and spent four days selling it and I am am now making about $3 an hour in wages. I am home now from Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival with a mind full of thoughts, some good some not so good. I am also waking up this morning on the verge of tears because when Wesley comes downstairs this morning, she will be my eighteen year old daughter. OK, as I type this I have officially started crying about it. How is it possible that she turns 18 today?
This photo was shot on Saturday, when I actually made the kind of money you should make on a day at a festival, but that is the only day I sold anything, including one of my more expensive barns. Mostly people were doing what you see here, sitting, eating, drinking and listening to music. Also, I have come to learn that there are massive amounts of people that are now enjoying the trend of
medical marijuana, and designating themselves as caregivers so they can grow their own plants. If only I could open up a coffee shop/medicinal herb shop.......
My neighbor shared her exotic scents with me all weekend as the breeze blew the scents into my tent, hmmmm..... and they had five kids with them, hmmmmm.... but they were good kids.....
I have to say, if I had come to the festival to see wonderful performances and art, listen to great bands and share time with friends and family it would have been the perfect weekend. But I was there to sell my work, and so it wasn't the perfect weekend, although I am trying to make the best of it, considering we had a really good time. Except for the rainy Friday which wasn't really that bad, and then Saturday night.......
Our dearest friend and Gerry's college roommate came to visit and he and Gerry "played " together all weekend. I have to say, they really needed some adult supervision, but I was so busy selling things, I couldn't be the one, so I just looked on as they got more and more ridiculous. We were taking turns sleeping in the tent behind my booth and Saturday night was my turn. And wouldn't you just know it was the night that the band from hell played at 12pm? They were sort of a celtic heavy metal fusion band with lots of bass and screaming electric guitar and strange Irish lyrics. Just the kind of thing you want to listen to after you have worked hard all day, barely sold anything, dried out all of your soaked work from the rain the day before... The band finished up after their ENCORE, if you can believe that! around 2am and then you could hear the sounds of the djembes in the drum circle and then the night just got better and better... at 5am on Sunday when I still had not fallen asleep because of the continuous tribal drums and war hooping, I started crying from exhaustion, put my clothes on and drove home. I got three hours of blissful sleep and a shower and I was ready to rock it on Sunday. The day turned out to be so beautiful, we had great bluegrass at our stage all day and I just sat back, drank a few Buds and chose to ignore the fact that no one was buying a damn thing. Oh I did had an offer for $1 for one of my beers, but I just gave it to the guy, being the nice girl that I am. I also had many requests for a raven flag like you see on my tent, the one that Cindy Shake sent to me from Alaska. Now, if I had those for sell, I would have many more dollars this morning. I gave her name to quite a few folks. All in all, when I think about it, I had my cute husband there helping me, my adorable daughter checking in, I met some really cool people, and all was good with the world, except that I am broke :)
This was how Gerry looked most of Sunday and how I felt
The highlight of the weekend was my crazy and wonderful neighbor Wendy. This girl is a trip and I can't even begin to explain the world she lives in but it was fun to visit it with her. She did a portrait of Wesley for her birthday and it is amazing. I forgot to photograph it, I'll try to post it later.
All in all, we had a great time. But I am sitting here this morning pondering how I am going to move forward. Do I continue to do festivals that I work very hard to get ready for and make little money, but have a great time, or do I just go to them as a participant and not a vendor. I was five dollared to death this weekend. I felt like my work was too pricey except there was a guy there selling handmade guitars from cigar boxes for $175 (I know go figure) and I saw lots of people with them (I know, go figure).
The other thing that happened this weekend was that Wesley (for lack of a better term here sorry) weaned herself from her mom and dad. She camped with her friends, hung out with her friends and we hardly saw her at all for four days and nights. It was good for all of us, Gerry and I have to learn how to be together again without a kid, Wesley has to learn how to be on her own, and this was a great start for all of us and a good, fairly safe place for her to explore doing this. I am quite melancholy this morning and wondering about many things, like should I just go slit my wrists now or after some espresso (just kidding, you know I am!).