What did the House of Rep do today in Washington?

I really thought that these people were working on our economy.

Here is what your HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IS DOING TODAY.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3611472

The first black heavyweight champion should be granted a presidential pardon for a racially motivated conviction 75 years ago that blemished his reputation and hurt his boxing career, the House of Representatives recommended Friday.

So, I guess this is probably more important.

Clovisfest - Sep 20-21

What was Clovisfest like last weekend? Been doing the show for several years, but had to cut expenses and travel. Any vendors out there that can tell me how the event was? Or if you visited the festival, how was it? I don't think that a lot of vendors were traveling very far for this one.

Serious Stuff

Watched the news last night about how they want to try to 'fix the economy'

I hate to say this, but I think we are in deep shit and they are trying their best to avoid a run on the banks and the Stock Market. They said that it would take the economy about a year and a half to turn around. For some reason, these people try to avoid using the term 'recession.'

There seems to be a sense of urgency in trying to get these bills passed through Congress and I am most certain that Bama Obama Bama Bama Bama Obaaaaammmaa.... is going to take advantate of all of this. McCain is right in stepping away from his campaign and turning to the issues at hand.

I hope that Friday, September 26 does not turn into another BLACK FRIDAY when the stock market crashes 1000 points and more banks and lending institutions go belly up. Just watching Bush's and McCain's faces can tell us that we are just a couple chess moves away from another depression.

Joseph Biden's - Words of Wisdom

Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden says today's leaders should take a lesson from the history books and follow fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to a financial crisis.
"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened,"' Barack Obama's running mate recently told the "CBS Evening News."

Except, Republican Herbert Hoover was in office when the stock market crashed in October 1929. There also was no television at the time; TV wasn't introduced to the public until a decade later, at the 1939 World's Fair.

I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE MORE BRAINS THAN THESE TWO WHEN YOU GO OUT TO VOTE. PLEASE VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!!!!

Show listings, events, etc.

Here's this weeks' listing of Bay Area events, festivals, etc. These listings are pretty much for the general public.

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Lathrop Days, Lathrop, CA
Looks like probably a nice event for the locals. However, they are still soliciting for vendors and we all know what that means. Perhaps one of the problems is that they have the wrong website listing in Craftmaster's.
http://www.lathropdays.net/

Fri/Sat/Sun Sep 26-28 Arts & Crafts Sidewalk Street Fair, Walnut Creek, CA
Link to Website

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28, Octoberfest, Clayton, CA
http://www.claytonoktoberfest.com/

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Folsom Gourd & Arts Festival, Folsom, CA
http://www.folsomgourdfestival.com/

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Pacific Coast Fog Festival, Pacifica, CA

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Taste of Morgan Hill, Morgan Hill, CA
http://www.morganhill.org/

Portland Christmas Bazaar

Okay People....let's pull out your most recent issue of Craftmaster News and turn to the page that has the 1/4 page ad with 'America's Largest Chrismas Bazaar'.....find it yet?.............. look at the line located in the middle of the page...the one that reads '1,000 booths of unique gifts,' Ya know...I don't know what kind of a crowd these people get for this, but why on earth are you going to point it out to vendors that there are 1,000 booths? I look at that and I get scared shitless and feel sorry for about 980 of these vendors because they are going to have a hard time catching expenses. You would feel that way also if you responded to the ad they had in there a number of years ago for their Sacramento 'Bazaar' which we unfortunately did. Only one weekend, thank gosh. i never ever ever sign up for more than one weekend of any event, espectially when I don't know a thing about it. Anyhow, I think that they meant 1,000 customers because that's about what we got for that event. Of course, that show in Sacto has been discontinued, kapoot, etc.

Newark Days

Okay people.... how many people are we missing in Newark this iime? I was driving down 880 in Fremont yesterday morning around 9:30 and it began to rain, just for a minute or two. Don't know if they got anything in Newark. That was probably around the time they were having their parade.

Show listings, events, etc.

I have been entering information on a lot of shows that we have done over the years and I think that you (vendors) would be interested in reading this.

First of all, Do you remember was created a little while back and lists a number of events that are no longer around. Old shows are ones that we no longer do..... and Problem Shows are events we have done that do have a number of problems. You can find listings and reviews of a large number of events in other sections in this website. All these sections will make enjoyable reading and maybe you'll find them quite informative. I have provided links to the promoters of the events. I'm sure that you have never heard of a lot of these shows and I provide insight to a number of current shows. Take a browse!!

This weekend's Events - Bay Area

Here's a listing of festivals, etc. in the Bay Area for this weekend. At least visit us in spaces 538-539 at Chabot College Flea Market on Saturday.

Saturday, June 20 Chabot College Flea Market, Hayward
Sat/Sun, Jun 20-21 Art on the Square, Redwood City
www.redwoodcity.org/events
Sat Jun 20 Fine Arts and Crafts Fair, Benicia
http://www.visitbenicia.com/
Sat/Sun, Jun 20-21 Art and Wine Festival, Lafayette http://www.eckerstromproductions.com/
Sat/Sun, Jun 20-21 Gem Faire, Redwood City
http://www.sgms.driftmine.com/
Sat/Sun Jun 20-21 San Francisco Crystal Fair
http://www.crystalfair.com/

Also, this weekend, we have Clovisfest (Clovis, CA), San Bernadino Route 66 Rendevous.

Check out some of our reviews of recent events on our website: Review of Castro Valley

Amazing but True

I recently watched a TV special about this autistic man who was able to draw a 12-foot panorama of London after flying over in a helicopter and drawing it from memory.

Revealed: How autistic genius Stephen Wiltshire drew his amazing picture of London's skyline

The quite remarkable talents of the London-born artist Stephen Wiltshire, who was awarded an MBE for his "services to art" two years ago, are to be celebrated this week in a television documentary about extraordinary people. In particular, the Channel Five programme shows the young black artist, 34 later this month, drawing a 13ft long panorama in pen, ink and pencil of a seven mile stretch of the London skyline after just one brief helicopter trip along the Thames - and doing so in just five days.

In the huge curving canvas, which was completed at the Mayor of London's office, almost every major building in the city is drawn to scale - from the Swiss Re Tower (better known as the Gherkin) to the high rises of Canary Wharf - with the number of floors and architectural features all recaptured in precise detail. It is no mean feat for a young artist who is autistic, a condition memorably brought to life by Dustin Hoffman in the Oscar-winning film Rain Man.

Indeed, like Hoffman's film persona, Wiltshire is also a "savant", a man trapped in his own private world but with an exceptional talent, said to be one of only 100 diagnosed throughout the world.

Here's a link to the remainder of the story: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-557942/Revealed-How-autistic-genius-Stephen-Wiltshire-drew-amazing-picture-Londons-skyline.html

Events gone by the wayside...some good...some..

I have a page on our website dedicated to a number of events that we have done over the years' and have gone by the wayside. They are no more. Some of them were pretty interesting and very good and of course several of these I am grateful that they no longers exist.

This event was held a number of years in San Jose. If you wish to read more about this one, please visit Do You Remember.

SOFA STREET FAIR, San Jose, CA along first street in San Jose
South of A Street Fair. More commonly known as the SOFA Street Fair. Believe it or not, there would be a bunch of people who would haul out their old beaten up couches (sofa's) and set them up on the sidewalk to watch the goings-on. This event was popular during the 90’s and was held on First Street near the night clubs. A one-day event, it attracted a wide array of vendors and quite an assortment of fair-goers.

I do not know what happened to this event, but we did it for 3 years. It was wild at times as there were numerous bars and night clubs located along the street. All kinds of people were attracted to this event.

I have also written about the following events there:

MID TOWN STREET FAIR, Sacramento SOFA STREET FAIR, San Jose, CA FAIRGLEN ART FESTIVAL, San Jose, Ca FOSTER CITY 4TH of July CELEBRATION, Foster City, CA NEW AGE RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL, San Jose, CA PINOLE SPRING FESTIVAL, Pinole, CA HARVEST DAYS, Vacaville, CA BURRITO BASH, Watsonville, CA VACAVILLE BIZARRE BAZAAR, Vacaville, CA

Chabot College Flea Market

Hi People. DandL CREATIONS (shoulder bags, fannypacks and a lot more) will be in spaces 538 and 539 this Saturday, September 20 at the Chabot College Flea Market on Hesperian Blvd. in Hayward. This is one of the better flea market around and there are sure to be lots of vendors. We should be all set up by 9:00 and will close between 2-3:00PM. We will have a reduced setup and will not have our wrap-skirts and we will not set up the canopy. Just a bunch of grids and tables this time to make things easier.

So, come on down. Have had a lot of people asking about the Flea Market when we did the Zucchini and Castro Valley Fall Festival. We only do this flea market 2-3 times during the year and might be there one more time this year.