Elevate Artisans Market 2019 to 2023
Elevate Artisans Market is my favorite event. It’s held every year on the Saturday closest to Halloween. The event is hosted at an Alpaca Farm by an amazingly energetic farmer and talented artisan, Della Lovett.
2019
I had five books in 2019. It was my first in-person event at an arts and crafts show, and I tried to make my two tables as neat and eye-pleasing as possible. I’m not sure why I didn’t take advantage of all the space under my tent, though. Doesn’t it look like it might be a little cramped for space where our chairs are behind the tables? Maybe I thought it would be more welcoming for visitors if there was room for them under the tent, but they’d have to be short. Hopefully, we raised the tent before the tall FarmerMan, who takes care of the $ transactions and everything else except the author-stuff made his way to his chair.
It must have been warm because I’m in a short-sleeved shirt. Note that I am not wearing a ball cap…definitely back in the day!
What did I learn? I discovered how much I loved to ask people what they liked to read. I made friends and to my amazement, I sold books.
2020
The weather was cooler in 2020. I’m wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt under my Halloween shirt, and it must have been windy because we have our gallon jugs filled with water to keep the tent from blowing away.
I have three books neatly arranged on the table that is a little closer to the front of the tent and books on a table behind me. Those must be the rare collector’s items because they’re in a rack not within reach of anyone, not even me, because my chair is blocking me. I’m not certain what the purpose of the table with lone Halloween sack on it was. Maybe it was for all the candy.
What did I learn? I dearly love to listen to their excitement when people talk about what they read. I watched people’s faces as they looked at my book covers and was fascinated by what attracted them.
2021 and 2022
2021 was cold, and 2022 was rainy, but visitors braved the elements and showed up. I had three then four series and more books. I’ll never be a decorator, but I tried to carefully arrange my table with only a few books, so it didn’t look too crowded.
What did I learn? Other than what a patient, kind-hearted man FarmerMan is for going to all these events with me, I’m surprised at how many readers really love a paperback. Ebooks might be cheaper and audiobooks might be better for a commuter, but there are a lot of people who prefer to hold a paperback while they read.
2023
It was cool in the morning but heated up in the afternoon. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. I had books all over the place. I tried to be relatively neat, but with five series of 30 different books, I had books stacked and stashed everywhere.
What did I learn? I’ve been surprised every year at how many people tell me they read Historical Fiction. I realized after the event was over what a huge opportunity I’ve missed. I’ve never once asked anyone what time period or era of Historical Fiction they read. I’ll fix that.
What do you read?
You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!
