A study in booth design

Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council.

LARAC for short.

For 40 years they've run a spring craft show that is now nearly busting at the seams with vendors, attendees, and lemonade stands.

And yet, still only one crab cake sandwich truck.  Why?

Why??

This year was my second as a vendor.  You can read about my horribly wet first attempt here.  It was a live and learn experience.  I lived.  And learned.

What did I learn, you ask?

Enough to draw people in to make purchases, which aside from the enjoyment of making the goods, is pretty darn important.

I wanted, no I needed, a booth design that was more inviting.

...so I went with more layers.

Height.

And if girlfriend is going to claim she possesses whimsy there'd better be some element of fanciful.

If milk glass, driftwood stolen from the shores of the Pacific Northwest, and antique silver trays turned chalkboard surfaces does not scream fancy I don't know what does.

Ok.  Maybe lace does.

A lot of my favorite display items are garage sale finds, things families have no use for, like this old wooden tray (and the picture frame from the first picture) I walked away with for $3.  It's former owner, an old man that lives down the street from me said, "Sure, I'll give it to you for three.  I can tell it's going to a good home."

Little known fact: I have this thing for collecting picture frames.

And milk glass.

And cow creamers.

Among many other items.

But I put the frames to work here with a little help from a Staples pack of cork board and sewing pins.  Easy, easy, easy.

(white wire frame is another garage sale fine.  i love it more than life itself.)

The colorful table runner is courtesy of Joann's Fabric (and my mom's handiwork on the Bernina), but I don't think you'll find any of it for yourself.  I've cleared every bolt from every shelf from Queensbury, New York to Yorba Linda.

But I exaggerate.

......

More to come on this great festival and some deets on my displays.  It was a two day affair, after all, and just one post doesn't nearly do it justice.

Plus I'm hoping to make one more appeal to the Internets for another crab cake sandwich vendor.  The world is ready, LARAC festival organizers, for more crab cakes.