Holiday Festival Recap

I might have mentioned it 20 times or so last week, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was the annual Holiday Festival at the Holiday Inn Expo Center.  And because it was our second time to participate, we spent a better part of our early week planning on what we were taking and building a time schedule for the baking on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so that our booth stayed stocked with tarts, jelly jars, baby pies, and nine-inch pies.  It was so efficient that I started to wonder what had happened to us...and minus 15 minutes of borderline yelling about some few minor issues, we were smooth sailing through calm seas as we baked all day on Friday and then loaded our cars down with everything we'd need.  By 5 pm on Friday, we had created this (and then opened that bottle of Wood Hat Bourbon you see there and poured a smallish shot into our sodas because baking for 12 hours and then putting together a booth is precisely as difficult as it sounds):

Through the course of the weekend, we sold out of pie...made more pie...sold out of pie...made more pie...you get the picture.  I felt like I got the better part of the deal because I got to stay at the booth and extrovert all day.  Jeanne felt like she got the better part of the deal all day because she got to stay at the shop and introvert for most of the day, which is precisely how we balance each other out.

By 3 pm on Sunday, the mood at the Holiday Inn Expo Center had clearly taken a downward turn.  We, and 117 of our other booth vending friends, were tired.  It sounds ridiculous but standing and selling product all weekend takes a lot of energy.  We were ready to pack it up and go, but had another hour until the festival officially ended and still needed to sell about 15 tarts, 10 jelly jars, 9 babies, and 3 nine-inch pies.  And then it occurred to us...make an announcement that all of our pies were 50% off until we sold out.  Once the festival emcee said those words, people actually ran.  RAN FOR PIE, PEOPLE.  It was actually completely awesome.  Here is a view as it was all going down (photo courtesy of our friends at Lizzi & Rocco's in the booth next door)...

We were happy to completely sell out, as it meant just that much less to pack back into the car and return to PJP Buttonwood.  And even once we did pack up our car and return to the storefront, we could only muster the energy to unpack it all and leave it in our front foyer before going home to...well, to sit on the couch and try to relax during the few closing hours of the weekend before being back at it today, prepping for the week ahead.

So was our long and busy weekend worth it?  HECK YES.  Did we make new friends?  ALWAYS. Will we do it next year?  ABSOLUTELY.