Seafood and Wine Festival Recap…

I made the long haul, maybe ten blocks up the street to the Oregon Convention Center and got all set up on Thursday.

There were lots of people and there was a good festival atmosphere. I talked to hundreds of people and made some interesting contacts. I sold one piece for seventy-five bucks in two days. Saturday evening, my neighbors across the way ask if I wanted a glass of wine. I’m not a big wine drinker and only drink once in a while. Mostly a cold beer on Saturday evening after eating sawdust all week.

A glass of 2007 Willamette Valley Vinyards Pinot Noir was fantastic.

A five hundred dollar glass of wine. That is what the booth fee was, so I got something out of the exercise. I gave out a ton of flyers and cards. A lot of people had great things to say about my stuff. Maybe it will pay off at some point. I may get a call for a custom piece, but from past experience, I’m not going to hold my breath.

One of the organizers bought the sign I made for thirty-five bucks, so at least I made gas and lunch money for a week. My neighbor at the shop, Steve Knight from Knoght Toolworks, cut signs for me on his CNC machine and I painted them. Thanks Steve…  www.cncrouting.biz

The Festival was professionally run and things we going well until the vendors went to pack up. The organizers found out at the last minute, because of the Blazer’s basketball game, they wouldn’t  let us drive into the exhibit hall like we could when we set up. That might have been a minor inconvenience to most vendors, but it was really bad news for me. To add insult to injury somebody knocked over some stacked tables and wasted them. A hard way to make a buck.

Portland Seafood & Wine Festival

seafoodandwine

The experiment in direct marketing continues this weekend. If you are in town come see me at booth #1115. I think it is a corner booth.

I have heard radio spots all week and just saw a TV commercial. I think it is twelve bucks to get in and you get a hundred bucks worth of coupons for local restaurants, etc.  Hey, the first three hundred visitors get and commemorative wine glass!

There are supposed to be fifty wineries in attendance. I believe that the application process for the wine vendors closed within a couple of weeks of last years festival. The organizers had 8500 visitors last years and expect a good turn out this year too. We will see!

I have been busy in the shop. I have a number of new pieces to take to this show. I have a bunch of stuff that got cut out but is in pieces on the bench. I had some problems with tools and a machine breaking, so I got a little behind. Still, I have more stuff to show that I have space.

Oregon Black Walnut... my favorite!

I try to get a bunch of projects glued up and sanded, so when I set up to spray finishes, I am more efficient with the time it takes for the process to apply all the coats. I hope to set up today and take photographs of my current inventory as I load it up for the show.