Potomac Celtic Festival....first the heat...then the rain...
Last Saturday, June 14, we attended Potomac Celtic Festival. It started as the previous weekend had been, at Maryland Faerie Festival. A threat of extreme heat. And then things went down hill. But we "weathered" it and survived. Thankful that it could have been much worse but wasn't. And for some of the crafts people, it was.
However, it started off just as pretty as a picture...
There will only be a few pics. Things got out of hand before I could take too many.
The first shot above is the beautiful setting of the Morven Equestrian Park in Leesburg, VA. This exquisite park is awash in green swards, treelines and creeks. Horse jumps dot the landscape as well. The Potomac Celtic Festival has called it home for 15 years.
Potomac is truly a quality festival. The jury has long maintained a standard of exceptional craft. So the art is just amazing. The funny thing is, that since many Maryland Renaissance Festival artists are in the area and were involved in the formation of the show, it is a little bit of a MD RennFest reunion and warm up show. The show as been struggling with it's issues for a while. It was formerly a two day show, but due to funding issues it went to one day last year. We didn't attend as we had another show scheduled. The previous year, 2006, we did it, but I was suffering from extreme lyme disease and have only sparse memories of it. So we were excited to return.
The show was only one day again this year. They are planning to do two next year. Any set up and tear down in one day is tough. The projected heat of 102+ was wearing on us as well. As the show was only a two hour drive, we prepped everything and got up at 5 AM, loaded two sleepy kids into the van and headed off. Set up was easy and ultimately we looked really great. Perhaps one of our best, and easiest set up yet. Partially because we left off some of the sides to let air flow through. This, along with several other "beginner mistakes" would come back to to haunt us later, but here is how pretty and comfortable the booth looked.
Our immediate neighbors on each side, our "bookends if you will, were MDRF people. On one was Page After Page Books, yes, I intended the pun. Janet, who runs the shop, is a delight to talk with, and I go by her Rennfest shop regularly and waste her time with my idle prattle. Here she, trying to beat the heat in non garb clothing and her tent sides open.
Its always dangerous to be next to a bookstore. You never know when you just can't resist the temptation. And since everything in Janet's shop we can write off as a business expense...well. So, as I talked about in my previous post on Maryland Faeire Fest, I am trying to stretch my abilities and draw and paint again. When I found, Watercolor Fairies: A step by step guide, and that it included the work of a number of artist friends of mine, we purchased it. Seems to be a great book so far. Hopefully, I will have something to show for it soon.
On the other side from us was Sozra Jewelry. Excellent and multifaceted artists, John and Debby Sosnowsky create striking work, much of which is crafted in Niobium. Here is Debby, who always seems to have a smile, and you can see she is model some of that lovely abstract jewelry.
Great folks and John, like myself, is never happy with just one craft. So he tries out lots of skills. Photography, graphics and even a little New Age music composition. He has several self published albums and here is a sampling of one of his songs. Some background music.
The every wonderful and sweet Bee Folks were there. Only Dave and his crew. He was missing his darling wife and baby girl as Lori, the mother of the family, is EXPECTING NATURAL IDENTICAL TRIPLETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, natural. All boys. That is, no fertility treatments, just good, 'ole fashion...well, you get the idea. We were stunned to say the least. According to her blog, this occurs approximately 1 in every 167,000 births. I wonder if it comes of eating so much honey? dave is doing very well, considering. I know that I wouldn't take the implications of triplets, much less all sons, so calmly. I'm not sure whether to offer them my condolences or congratulations. Both, I think. So, it may go with out say, but this year, during MD Renaissance Festival, stop by, look at their bees, enjoy the candles..BUY SOMETHING!
Here is Dave looking cool behind his counter.
Our special friends, Dawn and Diane of the Crafty Celts were there. The ladies fussed at me for taking their picture with the heat. You'll note all of our marked lack of Celtic or Renaissance Garb. Potomac isn't a required costume show, and most folks were doing their best to stay comfortable.
I should point out, that these wonderful ladies are our immediate neighbors at MDRF. For nine weekends of the year, they are truly like second family to us. They love our kids and we both can trust each other explicitly. I often step behind their counter to sell product when one of them needs a break. Which is easy to do, as I adore the jewelry, have literally pounds of it, and know it almost as well as my own. Having good neighbors and getting along with them at a RennFest is very nice. It can't be said for everyone who works the show, so we consider ourselves exceedingly luckily.
Here is another highly skilled jeweler. This is Rob Piland of R.E.Piland Goldsmiths.
Rob is a good friend, Master Craftsmen, Honorary BOG Brother, and mentor, after a fashion. He has always been very nice to me, and I believe recognized early on that I was a professional about my art and craft and respects that. Many of the young people who come into handcrafts simply do not have the self discipline and common sense, and business skills to last long. I pride myself on mine, (of course, "pride cometh before the fall"), and have tried to cultivate relationships with those older artisans who I respect. Funny thing is, because I became a father at 20, and Rob later in life, my son is a year or so older than his, so we get to commiserate about raising teens as well.
There were lots of other MDRF Rennies there. All I can say is to visit the site for the festival and see the list.
Additionally I would be very remiss is I neglected to mention a visit from the every lovely
analise. Her smile is always a pleasure and she gave Leah a surprise by bounding up with a hug. She was accompanied by kittydesade and it was nice to finally but a face with a profile! We chatted with them...or that is to say, I talked their ears off, until finally the ladies saw a break and made a run for it. My friends know my propensity for gab. It seems they left just in time, as at that point the sky darkened, and the afternoon got extremely interesting. This is also when I stopped taking pictures.
We had been expecting thunderstorms in the later afternoon. They decided to make an early appearance. I saw the sky darken and immediately asked a patron with a internet ready cellphone. It took him several minutes to pull up the radar and saw that there was a blob of Bright Red and Angry Yellow, with flecks of Purple in it, sitting on top of us, I ran for the booth, scattering warnings along the row.
Leah was in the midst of a large sale, and our kids were out together at the craft tents. I frantically tried to wrap our badly stowed tarp sidewalls back around the booth (amateur mistake #1) and pull in product displays. All the while, several folks were asking, "You think it will be bad?". I really do hate to be right about this sort of thing. The storm was MASSIVE! I watched several booths flip over in the field. Straight line winds blew in before I could finish the walls. I had to let go of a loose display and grab the front poles to keep our unroped and belayed booth (amateur mistake #2) from joining them. This display, having not been preset to fold out of the rain easily beforehand, (amateur mistake #3) promptly blew over onto guest huddling in the middle. The rains blew directly in, and ran between the unguttered tents (amateur mistake #4)soaking our masks, materials, and us. I was standing out front in a huge lightning storm with some of the hardest rain I have ever felt, just trying to keep my booth upright. Nothing like holding onto a giant metal frame during an electrical event!
All the while, Leah was frantically trying to pull stock off the walls and bag it into tubs. Our masks are leather and excessive water can ruin them. Of course, we had neglected to pack enough bags (amateur mistake #5) and were scrounging. That could have been avoided if we had simply packed our plastic drop cloths that we have on our check list but didn't bring. (amateur mistake #6)These are sized just right to cover our mask frames and shield it all in just such an incident.
To add a bit of more mess to the situation, Leah, who up until this point, had managed to stay relatively dry, was informed by Ellawyn that she needed to go potty, now! As we didn't want a further problem, Leah clasp the little four year old to her, and dashed for the portables. Needless to say, by the time they both got back, it still coming down so hard that you couldn't see across the field, they were both drenched to the skin. Ellawyn was plopped down on a chair in the back of the booth, wrapped in partly dry tapestries, and ordered not to move from the spot.
Ultimately, the storm broke off some and slacked to bare drizzle. Surveying the damage, only a few booths were down. Most had managed to get their walls up at least partly in time. I had seen another line of bigger storms behind that one, only 30 minutes away, with another behind it. As our stock was already in tubs, and our booth in a shambles, we were hoping that the festival would decide to call things off. It would seemly make the most sense to me, as most of the patrons not hiding out in booths or under the performance tents, had dashed for their cars anyway. As I went out to get some confirmation of this, I was surprised to discover that this wasn't so. The festival wasn't going to call the day, and we couldn't bring our van on to load out.
Now, in good faith, they were doing their best job under bad conditions. The festival had been a rain or shine event and we are normally committed to this ourselves. However I do have one rather strong criticism about this. At every festival I have every attend where an extreme storm event was coming in, the show organizers have managed to get everyone a 20-30 minute warning to "batten down the hatches". This is the first time that this hasn't happened, and as I mentioned, I was the warning for many folks. I have developed a bit of reputation for being eagle eyed about the weather and usually carry weather radios with me.
However, I only got 3-5 minutes tops. That few extra minutes, if expressed seriously by a member of the show staff, would have given everyone the timing they needed to prepare. With today's technology, all this requires is a good cell phone, or laptop with roaming internet capabilities. I can afford neither of these so I rely on festival management for them. Furthermore, the decision to stay open, despite the chances of additional damage and danger, was questionable. Rain or Shine doesn't necessarily mean driving wind and lightning. However, many of my friends whose booths weathered better than ours, made surprising and profitable sales in those intervening minutes between storms. The guests who remained were ready to make those express purchases before things got bad.
We had made our decision though. I arranged to get several golf carts to help pack us out. This, as can be assumed, is not the most efficient and pain free way to remove the large pile of stuff it takes to create the Mythical Masks booth. Nor does is condone the careful Tetris like loading procedure necessary to fit it all in the van. However, after several trips, much cursing, and a little shoving, we had slogged through mud, along with many other booths, to get it all in.
Just as we closed the doors, loaded now partly dry clothed kids and parents in, a message came around that they were going to allow vehicles carefully onto the grounds, as another huge line of storms were almost there. This, of course, was what I had been saying all along. As we were fully loaded and ready, we could have made a break for it then. This wouldn't have been in the best spirit of service and community I try to stand for, so Jared and I headed back out to assist friends.
We split up to different booths and I reached the Crafty Celts just as, to coin a phrase, "all hell broke loose!" The squall line was easily twice as strong, and we preceded to scoop and stuff jewelry and tables as fast as we could. Since they had a period medieval styled pavilion, I discovered the joy of hugging 50 pounds of wet canvas trying to wrestle it into their vehicle. This was the first of three I would hug. Once the Celts were under way, I went down the line, assisting where I could. A total of four booths were hastily dismantled with my assistance. I stopped in at our dear friend Virginia of
Dancing Pig Pottery. She as well was in a medieval pavilion, which with walls correctly in place, tend to be rather dry and snug. Couple this with her pottery not being bothered in the least by being wet, she was quietly taking inventory and awaiting a break to pack. Potters can never pack in hurry. And oh, to have the relaxation of potter in the rain!
Once the last few booths had been put in who needed help from us, it of course broke off again. As the third line of storms appeared to be even angrier, we wisely decided to make our break for it. A long drive in wet clothing, but we finally limped in well after dark. We are still repacking and sorting out from that and just this afternoon found another bit of wet bunting to be washed.
You'll note my "amateur mistakes" I noted in the entry. I don't mean these in a self depreciating way. I try never to be negative like that. I mean them for what they were. The mistakes we made, after many years of successful shows and even early days of problems, issues that would be made by folks just starting out on their crafting journey. We had grown complacent about much of our check list and not double checked for items, planned for emergency events, etc. I am sure we will make mistakes again. But the lessons were learned, and we will try not to act like the rookies we all start out as again. As a point of fact, at my first craft show with Leah, a tiny county faire, we were selling Native American inspired leather work and wire jewelry. This was in 1997, and we were just starting out, not even full-time. We had borrowed a metal framed carport canopy from a friend. Like a noob, I failed to rope and stake it properly, and it overturned in winds, striking the display across the row from us. Luckily no one was harmed and even the birdhouse it hit was repaired. It seems I may have slid back a little with this show.
When we came home and opened our canopies this time to dry out, we hung set and practiced our wall routine. I discovered a method for rolling them up in place, meaning we can be weather tight in 3 minutes or less. The shame is that this was most likely our last pop up show, our schedule is clear until MDRF!
And for those dedicated volunteers at Potomac Celtic Festival. Thank you for your hard work, carrying our stuff out, checking with us to make sure we were all right. I just ask that next time, the Weather Troll should be a paid position at all outdoor shows. I plan on finding out a way to get a storm fairy to give me the warning I need. And thank you for some of the abuse I through out there. This lifestyle, this crafter's career, with kids and family is always stressful and sometimes downright dangerous.
I still love it though....
Kubiando!
However, it started off just as pretty as a picture...
There will only be a few pics. Things got out of hand before I could take too many.
The first shot above is the beautiful setting of the Morven Equestrian Park in Leesburg, VA. This exquisite park is awash in green swards, treelines and creeks. Horse jumps dot the landscape as well. The Potomac Celtic Festival has called it home for 15 years.
Potomac is truly a quality festival. The jury has long maintained a standard of exceptional craft. So the art is just amazing. The funny thing is, that since many Maryland Renaissance Festival artists are in the area and were involved in the formation of the show, it is a little bit of a MD RennFest reunion and warm up show. The show as been struggling with it's issues for a while. It was formerly a two day show, but due to funding issues it went to one day last year. We didn't attend as we had another show scheduled. The previous year, 2006, we did it, but I was suffering from extreme lyme disease and have only sparse memories of it. So we were excited to return.
The show was only one day again this year. They are planning to do two next year. Any set up and tear down in one day is tough. The projected heat of 102+ was wearing on us as well. As the show was only a two hour drive, we prepped everything and got up at 5 AM, loaded two sleepy kids into the van and headed off. Set up was easy and ultimately we looked really great. Perhaps one of our best, and easiest set up yet. Partially because we left off some of the sides to let air flow through. This, along with several other "beginner mistakes" would come back to to haunt us later, but here is how pretty and comfortable the booth looked.
Our immediate neighbors on each side, our "bookends if you will, were MDRF people. On one was Page After Page Books, yes, I intended the pun. Janet, who runs the shop, is a delight to talk with, and I go by her Rennfest shop regularly and waste her time with my idle prattle. Here she, trying to beat the heat in non garb clothing and her tent sides open.
Its always dangerous to be next to a bookstore. You never know when you just can't resist the temptation. And since everything in Janet's shop we can write off as a business expense...well. So, as I talked about in my previous post on Maryland Faeire Fest, I am trying to stretch my abilities and draw and paint again. When I found, Watercolor Fairies: A step by step guide, and that it included the work of a number of artist friends of mine, we purchased it. Seems to be a great book so far. Hopefully, I will have something to show for it soon.
On the other side from us was Sozra Jewelry. Excellent and multifaceted artists, John and Debby Sosnowsky create striking work, much of which is crafted in Niobium. Here is Debby, who always seems to have a smile, and you can see she is model some of that lovely abstract jewelry.
Great folks and John, like myself, is never happy with just one craft. So he tries out lots of skills. Photography, graphics and even a little New Age music composition. He has several self published albums and here is a sampling of one of his songs. Some background music.
The every wonderful and sweet Bee Folks were there. Only Dave and his crew. He was missing his darling wife and baby girl as Lori, the mother of the family, is EXPECTING NATURAL IDENTICAL TRIPLETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, natural. All boys. That is, no fertility treatments, just good, 'ole fashion...well, you get the idea. We were stunned to say the least. According to her blog, this occurs approximately 1 in every 167,000 births. I wonder if it comes of eating so much honey? dave is doing very well, considering. I know that I wouldn't take the implications of triplets, much less all sons, so calmly. I'm not sure whether to offer them my condolences or congratulations. Both, I think. So, it may go with out say, but this year, during MD Renaissance Festival, stop by, look at their bees, enjoy the candles..BUY SOMETHING!
Here is Dave looking cool behind his counter.
Our special friends, Dawn and Diane of the Crafty Celts were there. The ladies fussed at me for taking their picture with the heat. You'll note all of our marked lack of Celtic or Renaissance Garb. Potomac isn't a required costume show, and most folks were doing their best to stay comfortable.
I should point out, that these wonderful ladies are our immediate neighbors at MDRF. For nine weekends of the year, they are truly like second family to us. They love our kids and we both can trust each other explicitly. I often step behind their counter to sell product when one of them needs a break. Which is easy to do, as I adore the jewelry, have literally pounds of it, and know it almost as well as my own. Having good neighbors and getting along with them at a RennFest is very nice. It can't be said for everyone who works the show, so we consider ourselves exceedingly luckily.
Here is another highly skilled jeweler. This is Rob Piland of R.E.Piland Goldsmiths.
Rob is a good friend, Master Craftsmen, Honorary BOG Brother, and mentor, after a fashion. He has always been very nice to me, and I believe recognized early on that I was a professional about my art and craft and respects that. Many of the young people who come into handcrafts simply do not have the self discipline and common sense, and business skills to last long. I pride myself on mine, (of course, "pride cometh before the fall"), and have tried to cultivate relationships with those older artisans who I respect. Funny thing is, because I became a father at 20, and Rob later in life, my son is a year or so older than his, so we get to commiserate about raising teens as well.
There were lots of other MDRF Rennies there. All I can say is to visit the site for the festival and see the list.
Additionally I would be very remiss is I neglected to mention a visit from the every lovely
analise. Her smile is always a pleasure and she gave Leah a surprise by bounding up with a hug. She was accompanied by kittydesade and it was nice to finally but a face with a profile! We chatted with them...or that is to say, I talked their ears off, until finally the ladies saw a break and made a run for it. My friends know my propensity for gab. It seems they left just in time, as at that point the sky darkened, and the afternoon got extremely interesting. This is also when I stopped taking pictures.
We had been expecting thunderstorms in the later afternoon. They decided to make an early appearance. I saw the sky darken and immediately asked a patron with a internet ready cellphone. It took him several minutes to pull up the radar and saw that there was a blob of Bright Red and Angry Yellow, with flecks of Purple in it, sitting on top of us, I ran for the booth, scattering warnings along the row.
Leah was in the midst of a large sale, and our kids were out together at the craft tents. I frantically tried to wrap our badly stowed tarp sidewalls back around the booth (amateur mistake #1) and pull in product displays. All the while, several folks were asking, "You think it will be bad?". I really do hate to be right about this sort of thing. The storm was MASSIVE! I watched several booths flip over in the field. Straight line winds blew in before I could finish the walls. I had to let go of a loose display and grab the front poles to keep our unroped and belayed booth (amateur mistake #2) from joining them. This display, having not been preset to fold out of the rain easily beforehand, (amateur mistake #3) promptly blew over onto guest huddling in the middle. The rains blew directly in, and ran between the unguttered tents (amateur mistake #4)soaking our masks, materials, and us. I was standing out front in a huge lightning storm with some of the hardest rain I have ever felt, just trying to keep my booth upright. Nothing like holding onto a giant metal frame during an electrical event!
All the while, Leah was frantically trying to pull stock off the walls and bag it into tubs. Our masks are leather and excessive water can ruin them. Of course, we had neglected to pack enough bags (amateur mistake #5) and were scrounging. That could have been avoided if we had simply packed our plastic drop cloths that we have on our check list but didn't bring. (amateur mistake #6)These are sized just right to cover our mask frames and shield it all in just such an incident.
To add a bit of more mess to the situation, Leah, who up until this point, had managed to stay relatively dry, was informed by Ellawyn that she needed to go potty, now! As we didn't want a further problem, Leah clasp the little four year old to her, and dashed for the portables. Needless to say, by the time they both got back, it still coming down so hard that you couldn't see across the field, they were both drenched to the skin. Ellawyn was plopped down on a chair in the back of the booth, wrapped in partly dry tapestries, and ordered not to move from the spot.
Ultimately, the storm broke off some and slacked to bare drizzle. Surveying the damage, only a few booths were down. Most had managed to get their walls up at least partly in time. I had seen another line of bigger storms behind that one, only 30 minutes away, with another behind it. As our stock was already in tubs, and our booth in a shambles, we were hoping that the festival would decide to call things off. It would seemly make the most sense to me, as most of the patrons not hiding out in booths or under the performance tents, had dashed for their cars anyway. As I went out to get some confirmation of this, I was surprised to discover that this wasn't so. The festival wasn't going to call the day, and we couldn't bring our van on to load out.
Now, in good faith, they were doing their best job under bad conditions. The festival had been a rain or shine event and we are normally committed to this ourselves. However I do have one rather strong criticism about this. At every festival I have every attend where an extreme storm event was coming in, the show organizers have managed to get everyone a 20-30 minute warning to "batten down the hatches". This is the first time that this hasn't happened, and as I mentioned, I was the warning for many folks. I have developed a bit of reputation for being eagle eyed about the weather and usually carry weather radios with me.
However, I only got 3-5 minutes tops. That few extra minutes, if expressed seriously by a member of the show staff, would have given everyone the timing they needed to prepare. With today's technology, all this requires is a good cell phone, or laptop with roaming internet capabilities. I can afford neither of these so I rely on festival management for them. Furthermore, the decision to stay open, despite the chances of additional damage and danger, was questionable. Rain or Shine doesn't necessarily mean driving wind and lightning. However, many of my friends whose booths weathered better than ours, made surprising and profitable sales in those intervening minutes between storms. The guests who remained were ready to make those express purchases before things got bad.
We had made our decision though. I arranged to get several golf carts to help pack us out. This, as can be assumed, is not the most efficient and pain free way to remove the large pile of stuff it takes to create the Mythical Masks booth. Nor does is condone the careful Tetris like loading procedure necessary to fit it all in the van. However, after several trips, much cursing, and a little shoving, we had slogged through mud, along with many other booths, to get it all in.
Just as we closed the doors, loaded now partly dry clothed kids and parents in, a message came around that they were going to allow vehicles carefully onto the grounds, as another huge line of storms were almost there. This, of course, was what I had been saying all along. As we were fully loaded and ready, we could have made a break for it then. This wouldn't have been in the best spirit of service and community I try to stand for, so Jared and I headed back out to assist friends.
We split up to different booths and I reached the Crafty Celts just as, to coin a phrase, "all hell broke loose!" The squall line was easily twice as strong, and we preceded to scoop and stuff jewelry and tables as fast as we could. Since they had a period medieval styled pavilion, I discovered the joy of hugging 50 pounds of wet canvas trying to wrestle it into their vehicle. This was the first of three I would hug. Once the Celts were under way, I went down the line, assisting where I could. A total of four booths were hastily dismantled with my assistance. I stopped in at our dear friend Virginia of
Dancing Pig Pottery. She as well was in a medieval pavilion, which with walls correctly in place, tend to be rather dry and snug. Couple this with her pottery not being bothered in the least by being wet, she was quietly taking inventory and awaiting a break to pack. Potters can never pack in hurry. And oh, to have the relaxation of potter in the rain!
Once the last few booths had been put in who needed help from us, it of course broke off again. As the third line of storms appeared to be even angrier, we wisely decided to make our break for it. A long drive in wet clothing, but we finally limped in well after dark. We are still repacking and sorting out from that and just this afternoon found another bit of wet bunting to be washed.
You'll note my "amateur mistakes" I noted in the entry. I don't mean these in a self depreciating way. I try never to be negative like that. I mean them for what they were. The mistakes we made, after many years of successful shows and even early days of problems, issues that would be made by folks just starting out on their crafting journey. We had grown complacent about much of our check list and not double checked for items, planned for emergency events, etc. I am sure we will make mistakes again. But the lessons were learned, and we will try not to act like the rookies we all start out as again. As a point of fact, at my first craft show with Leah, a tiny county faire, we were selling Native American inspired leather work and wire jewelry. This was in 1997, and we were just starting out, not even full-time. We had borrowed a metal framed carport canopy from a friend. Like a noob, I failed to rope and stake it properly, and it overturned in winds, striking the display across the row from us. Luckily no one was harmed and even the birdhouse it hit was repaired. It seems I may have slid back a little with this show.
When we came home and opened our canopies this time to dry out, we hung set and practiced our wall routine. I discovered a method for rolling them up in place, meaning we can be weather tight in 3 minutes or less. The shame is that this was most likely our last pop up show, our schedule is clear until MDRF!
And for those dedicated volunteers at Potomac Celtic Festival. Thank you for your hard work, carrying our stuff out, checking with us to make sure we were all right. I just ask that next time, the Weather Troll should be a paid position at all outdoor shows. I plan on finding out a way to get a storm fairy to give me the warning I need. And thank you for some of the abuse I through out there. This lifestyle, this crafter's career, with kids and family is always stressful and sometimes downright dangerous.
I still love it though....
Kubiando!