The View from Bellevue

Hey everybody. Did you ever have one of those blogs where the author buried his camera in a crate in the middle of his van and may not find it for another week? Welcome to my world. Saturday started early this week. Up at 5 to get ready for Art in the Park in Bellevue Ky. It usually takes me an hour to get ready to go and Bellevue is about 40 miles away so I ended up getting there at about 7 as dawn was on its' way toward breaking. I know for an 11 am opening I don't have to be that early but it just makes things go better. I'm not a last minute guy. It lets me unload at my own pace and take breaks when I need to and very importantly, gives me time to see my friends. I have done this show for 5 years. I know all the potters as well as the organizers and volunteers. Except for all the hard work it is kind of like a family reunion.

Bellevue is right on the Ohio river with a view of the Cincinnati skyline. It is a beautiful spot but over the years, it had fallen on hard times. There is a very energetic group of people who work hard every day of the year to revitalize the town and it is working. It is a fun place to go with lots of nice people. They really take care of their artists and know that you came to sell stuff not just sit around and look pretty. Anything they can do to help with that, they do. I have customers who come back year after year and loudly rave about their Whistle Creek pottery in the middle of my booth. I love it. But we digress.( Like we have never done THAT before!) The heat broke in Cincinnati this week. Saturday morning we had low temps in the 40's and after a chilly start we may have gotten close to 70 in the afternoon. It was sunny, not too breezy and just a perfect early fall day for an art show.

People started coming about 10:30 we didn't officially open 'til 11 but what's a guy to do?? I started selling pots. People kept coming, kept selling. The cool morning must have told people it was safe to use their ovens again. I took a bunch of bakeware, thought I took too much. I was wrong. I sold out of square and oval bakers. I sold most of my round baking dishes. I sold all my Pi plates and found out that I have a customer who wants to give one to everyone on her Christmas list. I saw Patti who buys a couple of plates or baking dishes every year. I probably had 10 prior buyers show up. I even had a couple from Augusta stop by who had bought a big bowl in June. After I got home that day I found out that somehow I had screwed up my Square processing and their charge had not gone through. I figured I would never see them again and would have to eat the loss. Nope, they are going to review their statement and if it doesn't show at their end, send me a check. The world is full of nice people.That is the only foul up I've had with Square and I'm sure it was my own fault. For those of you who keep track of such things, About half my sales this year have been on Square and I rarely see a check from a customer . If you do shows, you need one. The crowd kept coming til about 4:30 but I sold up to about 5:15. Two huge bowls went out in the last half hour so I'm glad I didn't try to pack early.

Often this show is not as lucrative as some of the others I do but like all the other artists, I keep coming back because it is fun to do, and we are well taken care of. This year it turned out to be the best show I had since spring. At 5 pm I didn't know what time it was, didn't know how much was in my pocket and wasn't exhausted. That's how I like to end a show. I did well, my friends did well and Bellevue did well. Next Saturday, I'll be in Mason Ohio for my last show of the year. It is in the park at Snider rd. and Irwin Simpson rd. Hope to see some of you there.