Our annual Holiday Trade Fair ended up going pretty well.

It was an interesting version of this event.

We were a little sad to see the first serious snow of the season that morning. A number of vendors that had sign-ed up never showed up so it felt a little empty at the High Noon when the doors opened at 11 am. Over the course of the fair more vendors did show up but it never felt full. By noon there was a steady stream of customers.

Even though it was smaller, we signed up quite a few new members and a number of people renewed their membership. It works great to sign-up or renew at the fair because then you instantly have extra money to use at the fair. We bought some delicious chocolates from Josie Pradella and some pickles, salsa, horseradish sauce and garlic sauce from Rob McClure. I picked up Art Paul Schlosser's recent tribute CD. We also got something from Forest (Arttogo) but I won't say what because it is a gift.

A new member, Drew, was selling smoked trout and tee-shirts. Susan Frikken was there selling gift certificates for her massage business. New member John, was busy making calligraphy name tags and cards. My wife and I had coffee and thermoses from Mother Fool's and CDs from Uvulittle Records. We just got a new listening station so that was fun.

It seemed like the bar was doing pretty well for late morning - early afternoon. I saw a couple vendors with wine and beer and customers walking around with mixed drinks. Vodka Mickies seem to be all the rage nowadays.

So even though attendance, of both vendors and customers, was down, the event went really well. It seemed more social than other years with lots of people hanging out, talking and having a good time. The vendors I talked were all pleasently surprised at the strong sales. Art Paul told me that his wife's handmade shopping bags sold out.

Trade fairs are always helpful in stimulating the Hours' economy. In recent years we have only been having the holiday one but I'd like to see if we have enough volunteer energy to have one in the spring - perhaps timed to allow our green-thumbed members to sell seedlings for next year's gardens.