Sad Sunflowers

These are the sad sunflowers I returned home to after the even sadder weekend I spent in Great Falls, Montana. I think enough time has passed that I can now write about the disaster of a craft fair that I attended in Great Falls on the third weekend of September. I call it a disaster, but I suppose I had a few positive experiences. I met some interesting people. I learned about the demography of people who are interested in my product. I learned that I need to choose my fairs carefully, considering the age group and "hip" factor of the people living in the town. I knew I was in trouble when I arrived in Great Falls and tried to find a radio station to listen to. All the stations were either country or christian. The country stations had advertisements about Jesus. When I walked into the arena where I would set up my booth, a large picture of George W. Bush welcomed me. My hotel, pretty decent and on the river, was staffed by a young twig thin girl with very deep dark circles under her eyes. She looked like the poster girl in the "no meth" ads. I set up my booth, pleased with the results. I had purchased colorful battery operated lights to illuminate my bags...and they looked really good. I was feeling positive, because this was a 3 day fair. I expected to earn enough money to purchase a new computer for my business. It was 97 degrees outside...and although just a bit TOO HOT for my taste, I enjoyed the last little bit of summer. We just don't get very much summer in Moose, WY. The first night was incredibly slow. I didn't sell anything. I was bummed because I wanted to take myself out to dinner. Instead, I had a TV dinner in the hotel. I didn't sell anything the entire next day either. Attendance was very poor and the majority of customers were between 60-90 years old and very conservative. Since my bags are pretty youthful and colorful...they didn't sell. Also, I think most of the women were crafty themselves, so would look at the bags to get ideas and then move on. The wooden cut out moose heads and tasmanian devils in the booth next to me were selling like hotcakes. By Sunday the artists were getting restless, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. Since most of the booths were taking a giant loss...the artists started walking around making trades...which was cool. I noticed a bohemianish woman selling herbs across the way and wandered over to talk to her and see if she would be interested in a trade. I said hello and asked her how things were going. She said "I like to ask people questions about sex, religion, and politics." Yes, I know, I should have said "hmm" and walked away....but I was bored, too...so thought, what the hell....and told her to go ahead and ask. She asked me my opinion on health care reform. I stated that I have insurance with my current job and appreciate that opportunity, but realize that I am one of the few with that level of coverage. I strongly believe in heath care reform. I have MS and if I was diagnosed when I didn't have insurance, I would have no life in front of me aside from working to repay the debt I would have incurred with all the testing and medication...and hope that I could repay it before I was unable to work any longer due to the disease. I believe that access to healthcare is a basic human right. Blah Blah Blah. Anyhoo....her response was...and imagine this from a long-haired bohemian lady in a long flowy skirt..."what...? do you expect EVERYONE ELSES children to have to pay for YOUR DISEASE?" The look on her face was one of pure evil. I was speechless. I wanted OUT of there. of course, being me....I said "hmm....well....maybe I, and everyone else who is either old or sick should just die...would that make it easier for your children?" and I walked away.

Ginger says:

Sometimes people astound me. They should be more like dogs.