So those of you in the Chicagoland area, and some of the Midwest, certainly know we had buckets of rain the entire weekend. After August being the dryest month, we had record rainfall, according to one of the news articles I've googled:
Saturday's rainfall of 6.64 inches at O'Hare International Airport set a new record for a single calendar day. The previous record was 6.49 inches, recorded on Aug. 14, 1987. Climate records for Chicago date from 1871.
I also just learned that at least 4 people have died! That is awful..So yes, it was a crazy weekend. Our booth neighbors on both sides, as well as behind us had to leave due to various issues. Two of them had massive amounts of water on top of their tents between Saturday and Sunday night...it was very sad that so many vendors had to call it quits. I think it still hasn't fully sunk in...after all the insane amount of work we all put into this event...it's really hard to have it rain BOTH days.
Here are a few pictures we managed to take..
The table from Day 1. Notice the wet spot in the middle. That was before
we somehow managed to get a giant tarp over the top of the tent to keep
it from leaking.
My Mom and James heading into the rain.
It took us a LONG time to set up both days. Also had to keep these bins around
in case the rain became worse. Everything was very haphazard..sigh.
It may appear that I am wearing tall socks, or legwarmers. No, those are just
my boots, soaked. Surprisingly my socks and feet inside stayed dry both days.
I was so lucky because I don't have any rain boots. Saturday evening we ran to
Target to see if they still had them..they only had snow boots!
Day 2: James and I taking a breather, haha. The booth looks pretty sloppy, but it
was a quick set up. Too wet to hang banners on the sides of the tent like usual,
too windy to hang the Mini Deer Plaques and all that stuff on the board. And
around 8pm we finally got electricity. We were just happy to be able to get product
out of the bins. James was very proud as he set up the spread on the table.
I'll have better shots of the lights coming soon..
in case the rain became worse. Everything was very haphazard..sigh.
It may appear that I am wearing tall socks, or legwarmers. No, those are just
my boots, soaked. Surprisingly my socks and feet inside stayed dry both days.
I was so lucky because I don't have any rain boots. Saturday evening we ran to
Target to see if they still had them..they only had snow boots!
Day 2: James and I taking a breather, haha. The booth looks pretty sloppy, but it
was a quick set up. Too wet to hang banners on the sides of the tent like usual,
too windy to hang the Mini Deer Plaques and all that stuff on the board. And
around 8pm we finally got electricity. We were just happy to be able to get product
out of the bins. James was very proud as he set up the spread on the table.
I'll have better shots of the lights coming soon..
So yes, that was the 2008 Chicago RAINegade Craft Fair. You can view more photos at my Flickr.
There will be a large handmade update coming to the shop as soon as I can. I'll try to give a specific day. Do sign up for the mailing list to be notified..and don't forget RSS feeds for the blog and shop.
If you had your eye on something at the fair but the rain distracted you, feel free to contact me to get first dibs on the shop update!
There will be a large handmade update coming to the shop as soon as I can. I'll try to give a specific day. Do sign up for the mailing list to be notified..and don't forget RSS feeds for the blog and shop.
If you had your eye on something at the fair but the rain distracted you, feel free to contact me to get first dibs on the shop update!
you are just too cute! i love everything about your setup! that yellow linen on the table looks just oh too cute! i get the feeling that we would be great friends if we lived in the same state :)
ReplyDeleteOh no, that is too bad about the rain! Your poor boots. I get super grumpy in the rain but it looks like you had a good attitude about it.
ReplyDeletehey ashley- thank you! makes me feel better..the rain really put a damper on a lot of my plans for the set up, and it wasn't near what i had in my head...but you can only do so much sometimes! and i have a feeling you are right - i think we would be great friends as well! :)
ReplyDeleteyeah haha anabela, i was surprised i didn't have a breakdown. it was really like a surreal dream.
cute post! LOVe the lights!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!! hugs!! Britt :-)
ReplyDeletethank you so much!
ReplyDelete