Tag: GAStrawbettyFestivalReynoldsGA

The Latest Twist

Middle of the Road: A Twist

Strawberry Festival Reynolds GA

Georgia Strawberry Festival

Last Festival of Spring 2025

This was our second year to be at the Strawberry Festival in Reynolds, Georgia. We were excited when we saw we had been assigned a vendor spot that was very close to where we were placed last year: in the middle of the road!

You can see how close the 10’x10′ vendor spaces are. The 10’x10′ canopy tents are snuggled so close together that there is no wiggle room for a bit of expansion at all. My series of books have grown to where I can barely place all the series on the front tables that fill the 10 feet across.

You might notice there are no table signs, and there doesn’t appear to be any way out after we’re inside our canopy fort. Crawling out from under the tables is not an option. Having nice vendor neighbors is a tremendous bonus when the space is tight because they don’t mind if we slip out the sides for an occasional, quick portapotty visit. It sure beats trying to scoot a table a few inches and then putting all the books that we knocked down back into place when we return.

Does that mean I plan to slow down writing and publishing books or take fewer series and books to the festivals? Spoiler alert: No.

Middle of the Road

Middle of the road typically means dull or even conventional (gasp!), but here’s our twist: middle of the road at the Strawberry Festival is a prime spot because we can set up with a “front” on both sides!

We actually planned for middle of the road with our fingers crossed. We took two banners for our canopy, and enough tables and books to have both sides of our booth set up with all the books and series to catch the eye of a reader who is strolling along either side of the road.

Speaking of neighbors, I always visit surrounding vendors to chat. Vendors are amazing people who love to share what they know. When I visited the vendor behind us (in front of us?), he told me he had googled me earlier in the day because he kept staring at my banner, and I was all over the internet! He bought the book from me that he’d selected online.

Have you heard of king of the hill? We’re Middle of the Road!

p.s.

Did you notice my pink hat? I forgot my writer ball cap but found my pink hat in the camper trailer, so I pretended it was my middle of the road strawberry hat.

 

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing! 

Judith signature

The Latest Twist

Planning for the Best

I’ve spent the past week preparing for the Spring Festival Season. The thirteen bins of books and two bins of tablecloths and table signs are packed and ready to load into the cargo trailer.

Books Ready for the first 2025 Spring Festival

For the Spring Festivals a year ago, the bins were much larger and held more books, but they became so heavy I couldn’t lift them to help load and unload books.

At the beginning of the 2024 Fall Festival season, we needed more bins because I’d written more books, but we had maxed out on the number of large bins that would fit into the backseat of the truck. If we had put any more books into the large bins, not even Senior Staff (aka Labor, according to him and his vendor buddy from a festival) could lift them.

We bought smaller bins, which we could fill completely. They took up less space and fit in the truck’s backseat. Because I could lift the bins, we also shortened the time it took for us to load and unload books. 

Before the end of the Fall Festival season, we bought a small cargo trailer. Finally, our festival equipment: the tent, tent weights, tables, chairs, bookrack, ceiling fan, wagons, hand truck, and tools, would be in one place, so we wouldn’t have to load and unload the truck for every festival. 

We added three more bins for the 2025 Spring Festival season. More new books = more bins.

 Each bin is marked so we know which series it contains and whether it is unloaded immediately at the festival, or if it stays in the cargo trailer for extras for back up. 

We’ll unload 204 books to place on our tables and bookrack at each festival, which leaves 107 books on standby in the cargo trailer, so Senior Staff can grab extra books when we get dangerously low.

You may have done the quick math and realized the bins you see hold 311 books. We have either sold out or had only one left of a popular book at almost every festival, which is magnificent but terrifying. While it might sound logical to have extras of that one book, it has been a different book every festival, so I’ve planned for the best-case scenario. 

When each festival is over, we’ll unload the books from the cargo trailer because they have to be stored inside. Humidity in Georgia is a book killer. I’ll replenish the books we sold from what we have on hand.

I think I won’t have to order any more books until this summer after the season is over, but we’ll see. We have seven festivals lined up between the middle of March and the second week of May, which means we have only two weekends without a festival. So far.

Spring Festivals

  • Calico Arts & Crafts, March 15-16, Moultrie GA
  • Peanut Proud, March 22, Berkley GA
  • Fire Ant Festival, March 29, Ashburn GA
  • National Grits Festival, April 12, Warwick GA
  • Spring Fling, April 19, Moultrie GA
  • GA Strawberry Festival, April 26, Reynolds GA
  • Ocmulgee Wild Hog Festival, May 10, Abbeville GA