Liberty Grove Historical Society Vintage Market – 2

Today was the last of two Vintage Markets held at the Liberty Grove Historical Society Museum. Last month, I tried to sell some of my Halloween kits; this month I tried to sell Thanksgiving and Christmas kits. I also carried over my Wanda’s Journey line and sold two of those, and I took a bunch of wooden hoop frames and sold several of them. I only made about half as much as I did last month. 🙁 One plus is that I finally figured out how to use the Square I bought for taking payments through my Etsy website. It was kind of nifty!

Mark told me he wasn’t going to be with me today because he needed to go to Green Bay, but he did drop me and my stuff off at the museum. When I first got there, there were only two other women there, and neither of them had access to the tents the LGHS had for people who had booths there. The wind was blowing really hard and my hat got blown off several times before I was able to get shelter. (I was again dressed in one of the costumes I wear as a docent at the Noble House.)

Picture taken by my boss, Mickie Rasch from the Door County North Welcome Center.

When Linda, the woman in charge, arrived, they had at first planned for my booth to be near the flagpole where it would be kind of in the center of things, but due to the high winds, they made room for me at the end of the barn. There were two booths also along the wall of the barn, and since the wind was coming from the south, one of those tents got the brunt of the wind. I was glad to be at the northern end and be somewhat sheltered, but my things still kept getting blown around.

Mickie has been trying to help me with marketing my business. Yesterday, she helped me figure out how to advertise that I was going to be at the market today on LGHS’s Facebook page. She also designed a QR code that people could aim their phones at and get to my Etsy website.

At some point before lunchtime today, I started feeling hungry, but I hadn’t had time this morning to pack a lunch for myself. Linda’s booth was right next to mine (you can see her and her husband in the background of the picture above), and she was telling people that the LGHS was selling cookies for $1 a piece. I asked Linda if she could watch my booth for a minute so I could go buy a cookie, but the woman at the next table heard me and brought me my choice of cookie before I had a chance to leave my booth, and she didn’t take the money I offered!

Early in the day, Linda thought someone had stolen her seed money for change, and then later in the morning, it appeared that someone had stolen one of the doll outfits she had for sale. It turned out that when she hadn’t been at her booth, someone picked up the doll outfit and paid for it at the LGHS booth. Later this afternoon, a customer was looking at a hatbox she had for sale and found Linda’s money bag. People are generally fairly honest up here.

The Historical Society provides food for those manning the booths, but without Mark there, I couldn’t get away to get some. Mickie came over and watched my booth for a few minutes while I went in to get some food. Later on, when I was getting tired of standing in my booth, Mickie watched it for me again so that I could walk around and see what everyone else was selling.

Linda was selling some aprons and bags that she had made, so I gave her a book I had on various ways to make bags. At the end of the sale, she asked me if I saw any of her baskets that I’d like to have. I had had my eye on an apple bushel basket and she said I could have it. She went over to pick it up for me, and just at that moment, someone offered her money for it, but she told them it was already taken!

Towards the end of the sale, the LGHS set up a table with stuff they were offering for free. I picked up a board with coat pegs on it to use for hanging wall hanging samples in my sewing room, and I also got a little something for my mother! Mark showed up unexpectedly. He hadn’t thought he’d make it back in time to pick me up, but while he was waiting for me, he picked up an air popper for making popcorn that was on the free table.

One of the things I like about going to these Vintage Markets is the generosity and care the vendors have for each other. It was an exhausting day and felt a bit futile, but I enjoyed the camaraderie.

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