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.
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
Judith A. Barrett - Author 