Novi Show Roundup (and Blowout) . . .

The first weekend with the complete new booth layout is complete – and a success.  Thanks again to Rick and Kelley from Our Daily Bread for making it possible.  Pics and commentary follow – but this is the more immediate issue . . .

This is the current view of the passenger side rear wheels on our truck.  Thankfully, there are two of them on each side, so after the blowout last night I was able to limp to the next exit and get a room for the night.  Now I’m waiting for road service to get here with a tire so I can get back on the road.  I’m fine – it could have been so much worse.  I do worry about such things happening on the way to a show and keeping me from getting there on time – but this was just a minor annoyance.

On to the “new” booth . . .

A week ago Saturday, I did the “dry run” (actually it was 90+ degrees so it was more of a soaking wet run) out in the parking lot behind the store.  I needed to make sure that what I envisioned would actually work without all of the gridwall that we have used for more than 15 years – it needed to be left behind to make room for all of these carts.

 
 

I was very pleased with the results – so was Robin Arnold (sitting at the demo table), who has helped me at shows in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana for years and loved the way this new layout made setup easier.  And being the creature of habit that I am, I especially liked that from a distance the new layout didn’t look much different than the old one.

 

Got to spend another weekend watching Rita Barakat from Faber-Castell’s Design Memory Craft design team dazzle the customers with her expertise.

 

Loved this view from my cash register – these ladies seemed mesmerized by what they were looking at – so I moved sideways to get a shot of the new Spellbinders Holiday Dies that had captured their attention.

This view has not been seen at a show for many years – Gary at a cash register on Saturday.  He’s not a big fan of crowds so he’s more comfortable making a brief appearance on Friday evening at the Cincinnati show – but it was nice having him around during the rush of the first day.

 

And two views of my “off duty” hours – Robin’s husband Phil and I hit the links after setup on Friday.  It was a great course with a really hard back nine – and we enjoyed it even as our scores went higher and higher.  Even the turkeys came out to feed and laugh at us as the evening progressed.  And I hit a local grocery on Saturday evening and found more goodies from Bill Knapp’s – this was a regional favorite restaurant (based in Michigan) that went out of business years ago.  We can now get the cakes at hone, but I hadn’t seen these goodies in many years.