The 3rd annual Blooming Arts Fest on March 19th 2011 was not a great success for me. It started out a bit colder than everyone anticipated. The crowd seemed to be smaller than last year and the wallets were tucked in a little further. Overall it was still a good day for being outside as the weather warmed up and crowds became more plentiful. Everybody seems to like my knives a lot, with very positive comments. Many stand there and admire but won't pick them up. It's also hard to sell a well priced hand crafted item when a vendor is selling chinese made knives for $3 just down the way.
This economy needs a kick in the pants. How can a hardworking individual making a decent product compete with low quality low priced junk? I guess a huge factor is this area of Tennessee. Perry county is about the poorest county in the state. Wayne county to the south is a poor county too. Events like the Blooming Arts Fest brings people in from all over. There really needs to be more draws to the area. Enough of my tirade.
A lot of wonderful people stopped by to chat, look and a few even bought things. Friendly faces from last year came to look at the new items I had. I didn't have jewelry at the show in 2010 so selling some pieces made it worth it. New knives (in picture) with my home-made micarta was very fascinating to many.
All in all, it may not have been as good as expected, but getting my stuff out there and meeting new people is a great way to spend a beautiful day in Tennessee.
Shown in the pics are the knives I got ready for this show. There are 6 hunters with different colored handles, 2 utility knives, a tactical knife and a knife with a forged tail on it. They are surrounding my new brochure which was an Xmas present from my wonderful wife. The other pic is of a bunch of knife blanks I have on the bench. I'm doing some larger camp type knives. They have been fun to do so far and I hope they are a hit.
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