Fil-Am Festival, Daly City

Wow. Every bit as bad as I thought it would be and worse. Got there at 6:30. They were putting up the canopies that we were being FORCED to use. Ours was still laying on the ground. No big deal, I just arrived there a little bit ahead of schedule. Set up was set to begin at 7:00. My part of the canopy was up at 7:12 and I then came on over with my van. Somewhat difficult to set up. We put up our grids, which were quite unstable, as I mentioned before and then we put up our merchandise.

Most of the crowd (crowd? What crowd?) came before noon and a large majority hung around to watch the entertainment, which was subpar until the young ladie's began performing around 1:30 and that sparked things up.

It was overcast and foggy all day long and a bit breezy at times. Common for this area... I lived in Pacifica just over the hill and in 7 months in 1981 I only saw the sun for 4 days. Not too many people arrived during the afternoon and the crowds dwindled down. Sales were poor for us and a number of the other vendors had a bad hair day also and this just not worth it. Very cheap crowd. Free admission, so would you expect? Event was held in a parking lot at Serramonte in back of Target. Kind of spread out and they could have placed booths in closer proxmity to one another.

During the latter part of the afternoon we felt the large canopy being lifted in the air and being plopped back down on the ground. Kind of like an earthquake? I thought we were goners. The wind had parachuted into the canopy and jolted it around. Canopies were not properly weighed down. My grids almost toppled over and were now leaning inward about two feet and I tried to push them back into position and wasn't able to.

A few minutes later, one of the ladie's in charge of the event just happened to be passing by and I told her what just happened with the canopies and what it did to my beautiful display. She said that she saw what happened when she was standing down on the other end. I told her that these canopies are unsafe and I was going to remove all my things tonight and not come back on Sunday. I asked for a refund for one day and replied extremely bluntly, "NO, YOU ARE NOT GETTING A REFUND.' I just shook my head. "This is not my fault, your canopies here are dangerous. They are not properly secured" She told me that the men were going to come tonight and secure the canopies better. Hell, they should have done it correctly in the first place. So, we do not return on Sunday...... that's the end of the Daly City Fil-Am Festival for us which we had been associated with for 8-9 years in the past. Salamat, arriva derchi, hasta la vista, adios, zai jian, au revoir, shalom .... GOOD BYE. And of course, did not find Paradise here either!!!

Lumpia at Fil-Am Festival

One of my favorite Filipino foods is lumpia. My wife must make the greatest vegetable lumpia this side of Manila...maybe in the world. That is delicious, I must say.

Anyhow, we picked up some Shanghai (pork) lumpia from one of the stands at the event and it was cold and tasteless. Like, U-know when you buy lumpia, it would be nice to eat it when it is warm. This was not. Matter of fact, kind of tasted like it was maybe, uh...Tuesday's lumpia. I just don't know.

Northern California Fire

Hopefully we can get rid of some of this smoke. If anybody can give me first-hand info on the fires along Highway 5 heading up to Mt. Shasta, I'd really appreciate it. Really nice 4th of July event in Mt. Shasta City. Lots of people on Friday and somewhat less on Sat/Sun. Great scenic location for an event, with the cloud and snow covered mountain visible at the end of the street.

I have found what looks like a pretty decent link with info on the fires... you might want to check it out if you are going anywhere for the holiday.

http://www.fire.ca.gov/index_incidents.php

And our weather report for Mt Shasta City http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA0741?from=search_10day

Looking pretty good....no thunderstorms (?) Temps around 90.. I'll take that after last years' 108 degrees for several days. I just hope that I'm not anywhere near this nutzo guy I was across from last year that sold dog stuff. Kinda off...wayyyy off!

14th Annual Fil-Am Festival in Daly City

Fine print, no print, between the lines....call it what you may, but it looks like a number of vendors are getting screwed on this festival at Serramonte Mall. They (Mall) are requiring vendors to use the canopies they are setting up for us. There are a number of vendors, such as us, that sell merchandise and these canopies are not suited for our setups. Okay for insurance, health plans, local services, etc. But not good for a number of people that try to sell their products. With the sides attached, it's too dark inside. It is quite difficult to set up grids, etc. to display our things. In addition many of the canopies will have the big 4-foot high drums of water (to weigh down) sitting in front, posing an obstruction.

Most importantly, they are not providing security for us which means that we have to pack up our merchandise on Saturday night and bring it back for Sunday. Gosh, it takes us 3 hours to set up and another 1 1/2 hours to take our stuff down. So, I have to spend an extra 4 1/2 hours doing all this. We were never told about this before we paid our fees. The name of our business is DandL CREATIONS, so stop buy and see us...but do it on Saturday before if we have to pack up, THEN WE ARE NOT COMING BACK. Not on Sunday, next year or ever. My wife and I are too old for this crap. You can read more about shows, etc., on our websites.... STARVING VENDORS and DandL CREATIONS. I would really like to see promoters actuall accomodate vendors wishes, but I guess it's all about the dollar, in this one, the Peso!!!

My wife is Filipina and we really enjoy this type of event, where we can listen to the wonderful Filipino performances and taste some of the food being sold. I love lumpia, pancit, adobo, toron, etc. Please enjoy yourselves at the festival....it's free.

Coming Events

Here's a listing of DandL CREATIONS events through the month of July. Hope to see you there!!! Please check our website for great buys on shell necklaces, wrap-skirts and our complete schedule.

Jun 28-29..14th Annual Fil-Am Festival,Daly City,CA
Jul 4-6....4th of July Celebration, Mt. Shasta, CA
Jul 18-20..Oceanfest, Winchester Bay, OR
Jul 22-26..Coos County Fair, Myrtle Point, OR
Jul 30-3...Deschutes County Fair, Redmond, OR
Aug 5-9....Douglas County Fair, Roseburg, OR

Smoke, Clouds all over California

There are around 800 fires burning around the state and the smoke from the fires up north is drifting down here to the SF Bay Area. It's been extremely hazy the past several days and this has just about obliterated the sun. We are under a cover of smoke-filled clouds and it looks like it's getting worse day-ty-day.

Canopies

I just checked COSTCO and it looks like they've discontinued the Alumina design (low-end of low-end canopies). I'm sure there's a lot of websites selling canopies such as the EZ-Ups, etc.

Here's one website with a number of different designs that I found interesting:

http://www.canopycenter.com/canopies/353+366.cfm

I'm going to put a link on the right hand side to list canopy vendors.

Energy Efficient Lightbulbs contain Mercury

Please read this about the light bulbs. Very dangerous if they break and the mercury comes out.

Starving Vendors Website

Hi People. Please check out our much improved Starving Vendors website. Have changed servers, used new software, added loads of images and put in new material. Completely revamped!!!!

Take a look at our BITTER BUSINESS BUREAU. A listing of businesses, promoters, etc, that we recommend doing business with

This website explains much about the life of vendors and how these troubled times are affecting a lot of people. Have also written a lot of satire, etc., and it's located in the 'Bull" section. I've got show reviews in there, but only the real doozies are listed. I have all my other reviews in our main website DandL CREATIONS show reviews. So, click, click, click and enjoy!!!

Sports fans.... you might want to also check out The Boston Sports Nut, my blog about the Red Sox, Celtics and other sports information, charts, etc. Also provides links to sports blogs.

Chabot College Flea Market

Did this event just around the corner from my house. I did not really schedule any events for this weekend, since my son and I are heading up to Infineon Raceway to watch the NASCAR race. I don't schedule any major shows, etc., over this weekend so we can go and also, like to give me wife a mid-season rest. It's boy's day out. My favorite sports are baseball and basketball, but I do enjoy the racing.

Anyhow, this is Saturday and a couple weeks ago, we signed up to do the Chabot College Flea Market. This is the second time here this year for us. We do not normally do any flea market, but because of an open-date and it's close to home, we do it. Yesterday it was super-hot here in Hayward...temps just under 100 and it was such a relief to see some cloudcover rolling in during the morning, which has cooled things off substantially.

The Flea Market was held in a different parking lot because the other lot is being re-done. No big deal, except that if you are a customer looking for a particular vendor....well, you have a problem. It didn't matter for me..... I really didn't have a good spot, but we were shaded for a couple hours in the morning. We went with a very simple setup..... putting up 4 sets of grids arranged in triangles and we hung our shoulder bags, tote bags, etc., from them. Normall setup time is around 3 hours for us, but we just put out a little. Sales were okay....not disastrous and not too good. Okay, though. Just Okay.

I was surpised to see a lady that had visited us in our store earlier this year (it's closed now). And, I guess she was surprised to see us at a Flea market.

What your (our) money bought for them!!

Here you go. This is what our money from the oil bought for these people in Dubai.

It's one mile long and 670 feet tall.- It will have 12 lanes for traffic.- It will cost 817 million dollars.- The design has Sheikh Mohammed's official stamp of approval.- The bridge will carry more than 2,000 vehicles per hour in each direction.- A metro line will run across the middle.- Construction begins in March, with a slated completion date of 2012. Damm piece of shit!!

From the land where artificial islands arranged in the shape of the world located and where the world's only seven-star hotel existed, come the home to the largest and tallest arch bridge ever. It will be completed in 2012, according to the source. Nothing is impossible in Dubai, at least architecturally. This money is NOTHING to them; but it is to us..even now at $4.61 a pop!!!

14th Annual Daly CIty-Quezon City Fil-Am Festival

Daly City, home of the largest Filipino-American community in the United States, will host the 14th Annual Filipino-American (Fil-Am) Friendship celebration on June 28 and 29, 2008, at the Serramonte Shopping Center Mall. The Daly City festival remains to be the longest-running Fil-Am event in the Bay Area that offers free admission. For more information, please check the following link:

http://dalycityfilamfestival.com/default.aspx

I am not associated with the organization, but we have been a vendor at this event for approximately 8-9 years when it was at Westlake Shopping Center. We did not participate the past 2 years that it's been held at Serra Bowl. This is the first year that the festival is at Serramonte Shopping Center. Over the years, I guess attendance has been around 3,000-5,000. We enjoyed doing this event and listening to the entertainment, which was sensational the year they celebrated the Philippines' Independence. It was very difficult to set up and take down our displays in Westlake, since it was quite confining. Security was a major issue there also and the mall was declining, with many empty stores our last couple years there.

Fiesta Filipina - San Francisco

June 7-8. I am hoping to hear from people who did this event. Originally we planned in participating in this festival for the 9th consecutive year, but when I contacted the 'new promoter' I found out that spaces were $700. So, we signed up to do the Hercules Cultural Festival in the East Bay. While in Oakdale, I was told that there was another promoter involved who was offering spaces for $375.00 and that would have been fine with me, but I had already paid for the other event and we were unable to participate. Still, the $375 was a hefty increase in booth fees for this show and us vendors are victims of price gouging by promoters, etc.

Anyhow, we do expect to return to Fiesta Filipino at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco next year and we hope to see a lot of our returning customers and other vendors with whom we have shared our aquaintances with over the years. The entertainment there has always been great and occasionally is beamed back to 'The Islands'. In the past, they have had very large crowds on the Sunday of the show.

And what do I think of this event? Let's give it a 4-lumpia rating!!!

American Graffiti Car Show & Festival-Modesto, CA

I know a number of people that did this event during the weekend of June 6-8 and I haven't heard anything good from vendors. To my understanding, sales were atrocious. I think that we did this show the first or second year they had it and it was indeed ATROCIOUS with capital letters!!! It can get pretty hot in Modesto in the month of June.

However, they do have a number of events circling around the 'American Graffiti' theme as they celebrate the 35th anniversary of this great movie classic. Check this link for more info. Maybe you are interested.

http://www.visitmodesto.com/calendar/specialevents/graffiti/calendar.asp

Sunday in Cambria

After we closed up on Saturday, we drove down the street to the Main Street Grill and picked up some Baby Back Pork Ribs and their Main Street Salad and took them back to devour at the motel. Absolutely delicious. Been getting food from there for years!!! Read what people have to say about this place. Highly recommended!!!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/main-street-grill-cambria

Sales were extremely slow on Sunday. Worst day we ever had in Cambria and shall not be returning. We had planned on coming back in November, but those plans are now shelved. Very few tourists nowadays and the 'locals' just do not support us. The street running behind the show was blocked off for construction, forcing people to drive an extra mile to the other side of town. The show is highly visible from Highway One.

Perhaps in 2009 over Father's Day Weekend, you can find us in Isleton at the Crawdad Festival. Time to give it a try. Anyway, check out our reviews of shows on our website DandL CREATIONS 2007-8 show reviews

If you are a vendor and need to stay in the motel, it's not really worth it. Some local vendors were satisfield as booth fees are reasonable but added expenses of gas and motel just don't make it!!!! I would rate this show: 2 cups of noodles!!

Motels booked up around here

I didn't decide upon doing this event in Cambria until about one month ago. Back then I began checking motels in the area and found that they were all filled up in San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, San Simeon, etc. The only ones I could locate were the ones for $150 per night and there was no way I was going to pay that much.

I checked Motel 6 over in Atascadero and was able to reserve a room there. However, it was all sold out heading into this weekend due to the graduation at Cal Poly over in SLO. At the front desk, I heard one of the clerks tell somebody that the room was completely booked for Saturday... and I really hope that this place isn't full of graduates partying, etc. Lots of noise in this motel and I think that we have a bunch of elephants up above us. Can't get no respect.

Our room is located close to the swimming pool and if I hear them partying outside, I'll be watching for naked ladies' (over 21 years old, of course) jumping into the pool.

Cambria on Saturday

We left the motel around 5:15 and headed north on Highway 101, taking the Hwy 46 exit about 7 miles up the road. As we were climbing in elevation (summit is only 1726 feet), we could see patches of valley fog tucked within the mountains. After we drove to the top of the hills, we began to descent into the fog, which was quite think in some places. When we made it over to Highway One, we had some cloud cover and hopefully, we'll get some eventual sunshine, since we were doing the A&C show in Cambria.

The sun never managed to show itself in Cambria and temps staying the mid-50's. People were coming out from Fresno and saying that it was pretty hot. Reports of 100+ degrees in Atascadero. Much, much cooler in Cambria, Not too many people showed up until around 2:00, but still much less than other shows we have done here, Mike had a full compliment of booths again and there was some very nice 'artsy' stuff in the mix. However, it didn't seem like the tourists made it out, because we always get good sales from them as they buy our shoulder bags, wrap-skirts, fannypacks, etc. and that just didn't happen. Not too many people carrying bags, etc. and I don't think any vendor did exceptionally well.

After we closed down at 5:15, we headed down the street to the Main Street Grill for some of their great BBQ Ribs. Evey time we are in the area.... Morro Bay, Cambria, Arroyo Grande, we always come here. After we drove away from Cambria, we saw some sunshine about two miles down Highway One. Wow. Unbelievable.

Gas in Cambria was running from $4.69 to $4.89. I thought it would be cheaper in Atascadero and I gassed up at a Chevron station for $4.69. Shell was selling for the same price.

Cambria A&C Show

Drove down to Cambria for one of Mike Knapp's shows at the Veteran's Memorial on Main St. in Cambria.

Left Hayward around 11:30 and headed down 880 to 101. We are staying at Motel 6 in Atascadero since virtually all the motels are booked on the Central Coast (Morro Bay, SLO, etc). A month ago I was able to make reservations in Atascadero.... they are completely booked now. This is the weekend for Cal Poly graduation.

After checking in at the motel, we headed West on Highway 41 down to Morro Bay, where we stopped off at Giovanni's along the waterfront and bought some Halibut & Chips and a Combo & Chips for my wife. We drove over to a parking lot near 'the Rock' and ate our food there. The water was completely calm there and the ground squirrels were all over the place.

When we were in Atascadero, it was quite warm... temps in the low 90's. As we approached the coast 22 miles away, there was much cloud cover and when we arrived in Morro Bay, it was much cooler with no sun shining. Perhaps mid-50's.

After we ate, we drove up Highway One to Cambria, approximately 15 miles away. Still overcast up there. We drove down Main St. and park in a lot across from the Craft Fair to wait until the Farmer's Market cleared out. We then set up our canopy, grids and covered up and headed back to the Motel. Thankfully, we didn't have to head into the sun....which was setting brightly behind us as we drove up and over the hills. Will return on Saturday morning at 7:00AM and finish setting up our display. Hopefully, the tourists will be around.

We returned to Atascadero on Highway 46, which is much easier to drive than HWY 41. Cloud cover disappeared after we had driven about 5 mile on the road and the bright sunshine was with us once again. If you are a conniseur of wine, this is the place for you, as there are many wineries situated along the route.

Gas Hits $4.61 in Hayward

Gas prices rose again today. Driving past the Southland Chevron station, I saw that it was now up to $4.61. Absolutely disgraceful. It went up $.10 on Monday... so that makes it $.20 in less than 3 days. I went down the road and got $75.00 (debit card limit) worth of gas for $4.55. And I didn't even fill it all the way up. Oh gosh.

The Moral of the Story - other than riding a bike..... always fill up Sunday evening. Looks like the prices never rise on Sunday, but they sure as hell go up on Monday.

DandL CREATIONS imported clothing.

PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR SELECTION OF WRAP AROUND SKIRTS. MANY DESIGNS TO CHOOSE FROM. Perfect for Paradise!!! Be sure to see our shell and semi-precious necklaces while shopping at DandL CREATIONS. Lots of great buys. Custom sizes. We make all the necklaces. Lovely cowrie shell chokers also. Very popular.

DandL CREATIONS Wrap Around Skirts

Some bad festivals we have done

We've been doing events now for over 15 years and we have most certainly done some real doozies. Here are some of the one's we have done over the years (in no particular order)

Vacaville Bizarre Bazaar. Held in downtown Vacaville (CA) on a couple streets. I guess it was held in April and we did it three times in our early years. It seemed to always be raining or cloudy and cool. One year, the vendor next to us tripped on the curb and broke his ankle. As the name of this blog suggests, this ain't paradise!!! A bad show.

Vacaville Harvest Days. This event was held over two weekends at the Nut Tree in Vacaville, adjacent to Highway 80. Long ago, there was a restaurant, etc., there by the name of Nut Tree and it was a great stopover for travelers. People that traveled Highway 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento back in the 70's and 80's would remember the place dearly. Very nice place to take the kids, grab some snacks, etc. However, it hit hard times a number of years ago and closed because people had other places to go. October 20-21 and October 27-28.

Anyway, they have capitalized on the Nut Tree name and built a number of stores there. The show was poorly organized. On the first weekend it was held in front and there was virtually no foot traffic. Heavy winds at night blew over our canopy. Thank gosh we had taken our merchandise home because we were aware of the local riff-raffs!!! On the second weekend, it was held in the back in the Pumpkin Patch, which turned out to be even worse. Everybody had poor sales. Everybody!!! Very poor traffic flow and people just were not interested. Take the kids to the Pumpkin Patch, grab a pumpkin and drive away. We were forced to walk a very long ways to the bathrooms. Promoters claimed they couldn't put porta potties back there for our convenience. City this, city that, fire department this, police department that.... they were ready to blame the failure of Vacaville Harvest Days on everybody else except themselves. So, people the moral of the story is to never do this event. You are not going to make any money, There is no paradise there...keep on truckin!!! And the other moral of the story? If you are ever going to leave your canopy up overnight, either put up all or none of your side panels. Mistakenly, I only put up 3 and the canopy caught the wind over night and toppled over. What a mess in the morning!! Vacaville Harvest Days ... what a mess.

Watsonville Burrito Bash. This was an event that happed around 13 ago in Watsonville (CA), located north of Monterey. Very hot that weekend. Hot, hot, hot!! That year they decided to eliminate beer sales there and the people didn't like that. I say 'let em drink'... as long as they don't get rowdy, let 'em drink!! Quite often, some of them spend more money when they are saused. Located next to a very dry field and they were giving helicopter tours. Oh my gosh...when it took off, it blew dirt, sand, mowed grass and everything else all over the place. We were selling beaded-T-shirts back then and they got pretty filthy. We packed up early Sunday and got the heck out of there. I don't see this festival around anymore, thank gosh and paradise was never found here!!!

Newark Days. We did this event on September 22-23 last year as a fill-in. Rained quite hard on Friday, but fortunately the rain stopped around 6:00AM on Saturday morning. Occasional sprinkles on Saturday and cloudy much of the weekend. This was a bad event to do. Booths were located in a parking lot, away from the rides and food, so you are not going to get much of a traffic flow. Many of the people entered through this way and departed, not even looking at the booths. They claimed that they get 130,000 people for this event. I am sorry, we have to file a missing person's report on this one. I guess 100,00 people were abducted by aliens or something, I'm going to stay away from this one forever and a good idea for you to stay away also. Most definitely not paradise.

Next week, perhaps on Tuesday, I'll give you the lowdown on some more bad events we did over the years shows....Orinda Holiday Bazaar, Ripon Almond Blossom Festival and the Quartz Hill Almond Blossom Festival there too and also the Cupertino Fall Festival.

Join me later this week when we take a look at some of the worst weather we have ever had to endure at festivals. Heat, heavy rains and strong winds are three elements that I can no deal with!!We had flooding at the Chandler Ostrich Festival two years ago; rain, snow and 38-degree temperatures at Lake Tahoe over this Memorial Day weekend; 108-degree temperatures at the Dixon Lambtown Festival many years ago on the day that the power went out up and down West Coast; Coarsegold Mountain Festival last September; the Jackson County Fair (Oregon) and it's 106 degree temperatures with sand being kicked up by winds and dragging feet. Many problems.

My Other Blogs and Websites

Please visit my other blogs and websites. Please check them out sometime:

The Boston Sports Nut - a blog about Boston sports teams; baseball & basketball and general sports information.

Starving Vendors - a humorous look at the lives of many vendors; I tell the real stories behind a lot of events. You will find a lot of humorous (made up=Bull) material in here. Loads of information also.

DandL Creations - our main website. We shell custom-made shell necklaces at a great price and offer wrap-around skirts, shoulder-sling bags, fannypacks and a whole lot more. I have a listing of events that we do and provide reviews of our events we have participated in over the past three years. Serious reading material and funny too!!!

The Road Warrior - my blog about some of our travels. We have visited all 50 states and many provinces in Canada and I would like to share some of those experiences and give recommendations and provide info.

Our Gas up to $4.51

I knew it was going to happen yesterday. When oil futures went up ten bucks last Thursday, I figured prices to go up at least 10-15 cents. Damm. And just Sunday, I had driven by another Chevron Station here in Hayward and Regular Unleaded was going for $4.35. Ouch!!!

Explanation of our Gas Prices

Actually, there is absolutely no explanation for what is really is... price gouging. However, here are a series of charts which show 'everbody's take' on a gallon of gas. I find the chart quite interesting......especially the skyrocketing amounts the refineries are now making. This last week their profits increased from $.40 to $.76 per gallon. So, now you know exactly where that extra $.36 you are paying is going.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html

Please pay attention to the fact that it is the DEMOCRATS that are voting down every Bush plan to obtain oil from other sources. So, if you vote in Obamavondamma, you can probably expect oil prices to even skyrocket more because we will become increasingly dependent upon foreign oil (and the Alaskan slope, which will run out eventually). Got to drill, people... drill!!!

Inhaling Helium-filled balloons

While at the Hercules Cultural Festival there was a business in back of me giving away free helium-filled balloons. Child after child came over to get one and many of them would open them up and suck in the helium, enabling them to talk like 'Donald Duck'.

A while back, I read something explaining the dangers of inhaling helium (nitrous oxide). Sure, we all have done it many times and it does get kind of funny. However, I just did some research on inhaling helium (search Google yourself and see what you come up with) and found that this is indeed a dangerous practice. I have never myself seen anything happen to somebody inhaling helium and I do not want to be a party pooper, but reality is that.

Here is just one of the stories I read.

A 10-year-old in New Jersey child collapsed at a birthday party after sucking helium from a balloon. Is helium really that dangerous? It can be. Breathing in pure helium deprives the body of oxygen, as if you were holding your breath. If you couldn't breathe at all, you'd start to die in minutes—as soon as your body exhausted the supply of oxygen stored in the blood. But helium speeds up this process: When the gas fills your lungs, it creates a diffusion gradient that washes out the oxygen. In other words, each breath of helium you take sucks more oxygen out of your system. After inhaling helium, the body's oxygen level can plummet to a hazardous level in a matter of seconds.

You don't have to worry about fatal asphyxiation if you're sucking from a helium balloon at a party. At worst you'll keep going until you get lightheaded and pass out—at which point you'll stop inhaling helium and your body's oxygen levels will return to normal.

Link to dangers of inhaling helium

And another link

This blog contains a lot of information for vendors and I provide information regarding festivals, A&C Shows, etc. Basically, people who participate in or go to shows and festivals are the ones reading this. When your child runs over to get one of those helium-filled balloons, please be sure that they do not inhale the helium (or you either) and if you see a business giving away the ballons and you notice kids opening the balloons and inhaling the helium, please let them know that something bad could happen to them.

It's nice for businesses to give away the balloons to the kids...... kind of a 'pacifier' for some etc. But I think that these people that do give away the ballons have to post some kind of 'disclaimer' or a notice informing parents/kids that inhaling helium is unsafe. It is a shame though, that nothing will ever be done until there is a casualty at a festival someplace and parents lose a loved one.

Slat grids for sale

I have 8 5-foot tall slatgrids for sale. Excellent condition. $13.00 apiece. I live in the SF Bay Area (Hayward) and you have to pick them up. Going to put them up on Craig's list soon. Email me at dstefa4621@aol.com

You can use regular grid hooks, etc. and also slat hooks, etc.

Hercules Cultural Festival

Hercules Cultural Festival, Hercules, CA June 7-8

Did this event for the first time in about 10 years and hopefully will not do it next year. Mostly local vendors, but there were some 'professionals'. only 25 miles away for us and I would never ever recommend traveling for this one. Booths were in quads, which was nice and I highly recommend that all promoters consider this. However, not much room between the booths and they could have been spread out a bit more, since this was held in a park.

This is an okay community event, but not any good for vendors. No admission fees, but still crowds were down, from what people told me. On Saturday, a couple other vendors told me that they'll have much bigger crowds on Sunday. I don't know about that. Seemed like less people. People mostly just sat around and listened to the music, socializing, etc. Will need to file a 'missing persons' report on this one. There were some food booths, but I never saw much of a line at any of them.

Some vendors who have done this show previously (but not now) referred to this as being another 'flea market', but I wouldn't say it was that bad. People just weren't buying and some of them were bickering,etc. But I must say that there were a number of kids who were untamed.

Oh Lucky Me!!! High Winds at Parker Bluegrass Festival this past March

Just spoke to one of my fellow vendors who informed me that he did the Parker Bluegrass Festival back in late Feb-early March. He spoke of 70mph winds there on Saturday night. When vendors returned on Sunday moring virtually every canopy had been toppled over and merchandise was all over the place. Wow. I guess you really can't do anything when you have winds over 50 MPH. Impossible to weigh things down.We had done this show a couple 5-6 years ago and it wasn't really an income-producing event. However, it is held in a very attractive location.

During that same weekend, we were originally schedule to do another event in Parker, but fortunately, the show was cancelled due to lack of vendors. Thank gosh...ohhh lucky me!!!!

IMPORTANT, but not IMPORTANT: To my understanding, this event will no longer be held in Parker, as they have raised the promoter's fees 150 percent. I guess everybody is into price gouging nowadays. It will not take place in Lake Havasu. However, don't come looking for us there.

Caravan Canopy Replacement parts

To order replacement parts for your Caravan Canopy, you can check out the following website:

Caravan Canopies

Over the past several years I have purchased a number of replacement trusses and other smaller parts from them.

CARAVAN CANOPY INT’L 14600 Alondra Blvd.La Mirada, CA 90638toll-free: 1-877-922-6679 phone: 1-714-367-3000fax: 1-714-367-3050 Email: info@caravancanopy.com

Nevada Festivals and Events

Just came across a great website that lists quite a number of events in Nevada. Name of event, description, booth fee, #of vendors, phone numbers and websites. Looks like a really great resource. This website also shows events in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. NOTE: The version of the website shows events for 2007 and I was unable to find 2008.


Nevada Festivals

Excellent publication

The best publication that lists shows in the Western part of the US is Craftmaster News. It lists thousands of events taking place in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona and other states.

A great resource for vendors. Published bi-monthly and they have on-line listings. http://www.craftmasternews.com/ When doing events, I tell a lot of people about this wonderful guide. A bit expensive, but a good investment.

Gassed out!!! Chevron up to $4.41 in Hayward

Oh my gosh.... just drove past our Chevron station and the price of unleaded regular (or whatever you want to call it) is now at $4.41. Second big Monday increase in a row. America...we are getting screwed, tarred, feathered... the whole shabang!! Just don't know what to do.

Oregon County Fairs

There are a number of resources to find county fairs in Oregon. http://www.craftmasternews.com/ has listings. Also, the website http://www.oregonfairs.org/dates.htm lists all the County Fairs in Oregon with detailed information, size, dates, fees, etc. Excellent.

Patterson Apricot Fiesta

This weekend it was off to Patterson, 70 miles away from us, for the Apricot Fiesta. This was the 5th year we have done the show and most of the time, it has been hot. However, temps were in the low 80's this weekend and quite comfortable. Pretty decent crowds came out on Saturday, but many fewer on Sunday. Sales were okay on Sat; down considerably on Sun. A lot of vendors did poorly. However, it was so nice to do a show locally and one with decent weather. The past three weeks we have had to endure 40 degrees in Marina, 104 in Oakdale and 38 in Lake Tahoe.



Didn't eat much there. Had some Lockeford Sausage which was delicious. Been buying it for years at many of the festivals we have been in. Only $5.00 for a big sausage topped with saurkraut if you desire. MMMMM. I had garlic fries twice from a different vendor...on Saturday they were pretty decent, but on Sunday, I must respond with "Where's the Garlic?"


In an attempt to satisfy my recent cravings for a Philly Cheesesteak and purchased one from one of the other vendors. Oh my gosh. Completely tastless. One of the poorer ones I have ever had.