2011 Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival

So yesterday was the big day I've been working toward for pretty much the last year. My very first art show!

It started out pretty well. I got the truck all packed up:

And I got the tent set up correctly, although I forgot the optional rear door:

The sky was threatening and I heard some far off thunder, but I was finally set up and ready:

Here's a closer look inside:

We had a some decent rain the first day, but nothing the tent, the attendees and myself couldn't handle.

Then came Sunday:

See that big yellow/orange blob in the middle? Yep, that's Sunday's weather.

I managed to get one sale in before the skies opened up, then opened wider. Then there was some apparent rip in the fabric of reality which seemed to anger a few different gods as Schaumburg channeled that rain planet from that Star Wars prequel.

I stuck it out for a good five hours until reports of pending insane winds. I imagined myself and my wares being blown into the lake while being struck by lighting, then I tore everything down as quickly as possible.

It took me about an hour, and I meant to get a picture of myself as a drowned rat after driving home through the flooding streets, but I was sorry enough a specimen that even my sense of humor has been soaked through.

Still, I made some decent money considering how little serviceable weather we actually had for the weekend, and I not only got through my first show, but survived what even many of the regular battle-hardened art fair crowd called the worst weather they'd seen in years.

Whew!