We’re baaaack…and Yes, it was worth it!

Ever run a marathon or compete in a long triathlon? 

Then you’ll relate to the energy it takes to exhibit in a week-long American Craft Council show.

Barbara and I in front of my booth, third day of the show, first day of the public retail show.

I’ve got lots to share about this big learning experience.  For those of you that don’t follow me on my Facebook Fan page, I’ll catch you up with some of what I was able to post there during the show.  

And, with the benefit of a week to absorb it all “post-show”, the first most oft asked question I can answer is, “Yes, it was worth it!”.

Re-cap of American Craft Council Baltimore Show Feb 19-23, 2014

Feb 17: Day 1 of Set up

Not knowing how long it would take us to unpack and set up, we got checked in about 10:15 and were thrilled to be re-united with our ice sculpture obelisk, er I mean 8ft. tall pallet of boxes which was ready and waiting for us in front of my booth space.

We began cutting through the copious layers of shrink wrap and dismantling the pallet of boxes and by about 1:30, had the first half of the booth walls set up:

By 5:15, we had the entire booth walls, floor, lights and banners all set up!

By that time, several of our neighbors had just begun setting up,  and many had not even arrived yet.

At 6pm, Barbara’s phone app beeped…we had already walked 5 miles today, just walking to the convention center from our hotel and working for 7 hours on setting up the booth!

Stick a fork in us, we’re done for today!  At 8 pm, we were toast and decided we would finish hanging the rest of the artwork tomorrow.  Feeling pretty good about how much we had gotten done, we headed off for dinner.

Barbara, end of set up day 1.

More to come on finishing the set up, meeting other artists, and preparing for the first day of the wholesale show in my next post on the ACC Baltimore show.