Bele Chere Success

I think I've recovered from last weekend's Bele Chere Festival. The gallery is reset and most everything else is unpacked. I generally had a good time. I was relieved to have made my booth fees by early afternoon on Friday. So I just sat back and watched the people. Anyone who has been to downtown Asheville knows it's a prime place to people watch.

The booth picture looks a little lame, but it's hard to get a good photo.



My first visitors Friday morning were my neighbors, taking in the festival before too many people got there. Joy Bennett from the Lace Toadstool popped in to say "hi". I had a customer so we didn't get a chance to chat. Jay came down in the afternoon, and I took off to see more of the festival. I stopped at Gabriel Kline' s booth. He teaches at Odyssey and has some nice cone 6 work. Later, when I should have been closing up the booth, I left again to catch some of Cracker and Dar Williams. I even got the chance to embarrass my offspring singing and dancing along to "As Cool As I Am". I thought you'd know this already.


Saturday morning I met one of Shane Mickey's students although he didn't give his name. My friend Brenda drove up and worked the booth with me until we closed. Good thing since the friends we were staying with had a water heater emergency, and Jay couldn't come back down. Towards evening, another studio-mate from Clemson stopped by with her husband. We are facebook friends, but I hadn't seen Marty for several years. It's so good to see old friends. Jay's boss came by and, after tracking down some of his friends, said goodbye by bringing me a Wee-Heavier from the French Broad Brewery. Yum!


The festival changed on Sunday. With no alcohol sales on the street, we saw more families and made more sales. Jay sold my green and white teapot (the one on my homepage) while I was up the street visiting the River District tent talking to Nelle Pingree, and later I sold one of by bigger baskets. Also met a gentleman who lives in Clemson and knows my Ceramics Professor and Mentor Mike Vatalaro. Small world.


All in all the festival was a success. The weather cooperated, sales were pretty good, and I was located on the shady side of the street. I'm not sure if I'll do it again next year. A lot will depend on how well I do at the Mt. Mitchell Crafts Fair next weekend.

In the meantime, I fired a bisque overnight and plan on firing a cone 10 this weekend.