Saturday July 20: Part 2-Vendor Event

Welcome back. Today I am going to continue sharing with you what July 20 was like for both my wife and me and why it was one we'll be talking about for a while. 

Once I got home from my SOKYGT audition I found my wife busy finishing up last minute details of her Color Street table display and packing up it up for transport.  

The thing that would be the overwhelming factor of the day, the excessive summer heat, had the temperature already near 90 at midday.  

Once my wife finished packing up her product inventory it was time to get ready to go to her first vendor event. 

About a month ago she signed up to set up at the Duncan Heinz Festival sponsored by the Bowling Green Junior Women's Club. It was being held on the grounds of Chaney's Dairy Barn south of town. 

Chaney's is a very popular restaurant/ice cream shop that sets in front of an actual working dairy. It hosts a plethora of events during the year including showing outdoor movies throughout the summer; a corn maze in autumn, and a self-guided dairy tour. 

About 2 o'clock, we loaded up a 10X10 canopy; two 4 ft. long folding tables; 2 rocking lawn chairs; a large plastic bin filled with nail strip sets; display racks and supplies; a portable misting fan and the five gallon plastic bucket that goes with it; a cooler filled with drinks, ice, and Color Street nail strip samples into the back of our Kia Soul. I was surprised it all fit but it did. 

We arrived a little early and had to wait to find out where we were going to set up. Around 3:30 when we started unloading the car the heat index had jumped close to triple digits. Not being very good in handling the heat under "normal" conditions, my wife and I had to take breaks, drink plenty of water and go into the restaurant to cool off during the set up process. Combined with the fact that we were setting up the canopy for just the 2nd time and the display tables for the first time it took us about 90 minutes to get completely set up. 

Paula, is a lot more susceptible to the effects of the heat than I am. I had to actively make sure she stayed cool. I did that throughout the day with a combination of the portable fan and a cooling rag dipped in ice water draped around her neck.  

She actually did most of the set up work. It was new and she had to flesh it out so it looked the way she designed it. But by the time the event "officially" started at 5 o'clock the Paula's Nail Haven Color Street booth was ready for customers.

I would like to take a second and say how impressed I am with the set up. Paula put a lot of creativity, time and effort into it. Thanks to the support from her Color Street sponsors, she had a lot of resources, guidelines, and examples to follow. But the unique features of the booth came from Paula. 

Those include the racks that the sets are on which are originally meant to hold spools of thread. 

The wheels with the different nail samples and the mannequin hand showing, what an applied set looks like, are her original creations.   

For it being such a hot afternoon, there were a lot of people thru with a lot stopping by our booth. Paula would engage those showing interest with the simple inquiry, "Have you tried Color Street?"

A very good opening question that sparked, not only conversations, but a lot of sample applications and even some sales. 

Some friends, who are also members of the Nail Haven Facebook group, came by to support Paula (and get some points toward winning the July give away). Barbara and her daughters; Dawn; Emily; and Paula's sister, Theresa all came by to offer support. 

I've said this several times on this blog before, but I am very proud of the way Paula has grown into being a Color Street stylist. Her interactions with her customers is becoming more and more natural as her experience grows. It was fun for me to watch.  

By the time the festival was over at 8 o'clock both of us were tired, hot, and ready to go home. 

As we took down the canopy and packed up it was still very hot even though the day had transitioned into twilight.  As we loaded the car, darkness set in and the outside movie for the night, Disney's Incredibles 2, had started on screen set up near by. Finally, packed up we headed toward home.  

It was a very successful first vendor event but the heat totally wore us out. 

We stopped for something to eat and drink on our way home. Once we got there, the only things we unloaded from the car were Paula's Color Street sets and the cooler. The rest would wait until the next day. 

Thus, ended one of the longest, exhausting, but most rewarding and memorable days of 2019. 

The next day we basically just rested and recovered from the festival. On Sunday night Paula invited me to participate in her weekly Facebook Live with her Color Street group. 

We played a fun game of 80s & 90s pop music trivia. I came up with 20 multiple choice questions. I used my old Joel Whitburn Billboard chart history reference book and google as my resources.

We did live event together. I read the questions and Paula monitored the responses and kept score. We had a great time with about a dozen people in on the fun. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. It was a very fun way to end the weekend. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today. I hope you enjoyed reading about our weekend. Come back next week when I will share even more adventures of a Yankee Near Nashville.