Sunday, October 11, 2009

Coker Creek Creations

Richard and I have long dreamed of him producing for sale copies of the best toy we ever had, which was made by Richard. The original was taken by the mermaids when our house was washed into Lake Pontchartrain in Hurricane Katrina. We have the beginnings of a new set that was saved by virtue of being in the attic waiting for finishing when Katrina came through. Our Christmas decorations and this box of sticks were all that remained of our home. Perhaps we’ll make this dream come true – finish the box of sticks, make more sets, and hit the road with a craft caravan. Richard could demonstrate his wonderful toy while I chat up the customers and make the sales.

I’ve worked trade fares, but this is my first craft fare. I named my publishing company “Coker Creek Creations” with the idea that I could eventually branch out to representing various Coker Creek craftspeople. I toyed with the idea of selling some of my kitchen crafts, like spiced pecans, at this year’s festival, but with all the bereavement work the prospect became daunting. I decided to do this first foray into festivals on the KISS principle. In this case, keeping it simple means focusing on Jack’s book.

Jack and I are excited, not only about selling his books at the Autumn Gold Festival this week-end, but The Monroe County Buzz has offered us a spot in their fourth annual Buzz Fest next week-end. This was precipitated by Adam asking me about the bridge, and me contacting Mark Boring, Jack’s friend with The Buzz. More blog blessings…

My blog following nephew, Albert, has suggested that I sell my wares online. He’s a really smart guy -- in high school and college simultaneously. He’s also doing apprenticeships in computer work. Maybe he can take on designing and maintaining my business website as a student project. And his big brother, who has experience in craft fairs, could set us up with some of the better fairs in places we’d like to visit – or, at least, advise us on what to do and what to avoid on the gypsy vendor circuit. And maybe my best literary friends could continue to edit the books that we publish. And maybe we’ll make enough money to fix our RV, build a new kitchen, and buy a new van – but probably not all this week-end.

Oh, yeah! I said I’d keep it simple.

The first day of the festival, we had rain, followed by fog, followed by mud -- Not an auspicious start to our craft fair careers. We were blessed by a good spot at the front of the fairgrounds (Coker Creek Village Retreat Center), and the offer to share the Ruritan’s tent. With three umbrellas and a couple of towels, we were able to keep our books dry, but we were afraid that no one other than fellow vendors would brave this wet weather.

The Ruritan’s reputation for putting on a good festival saved the day. After forty years of putting on this celebration, they’re like the Postal Service motto – “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor dark of night”…will keep the festival from raising funds for community outreach programs. Ralph Murphy and Ken Dalton have been festival organizers since its first year when they actually had snow and ice during festival week-end. They didn’t miss a beat this year, beginning with a beautiful tribute to Frank complete with Ralph's wife Wanda Murphy’s fabulous voice soaring to the heavens with the Star Spangled Banner to open the festivities.

I believe Frank was proud. May he rest in the knowledge that his good works live on.