I spent all day Saturday manning my booth at the annual Olivenhain Craft Fair in Encinitas. 100 vendors with their variety of handmade items filled the historic grounds on this sunny Autumn day. Before we officially opened at 9am, eager customers poured through the door looking for homemade treasures. A founding family of Olivenhain selling their great-great-great grandma’s cake sold out of their supplies in 40 minutes. My wares included painted greeting cards and shirts, sock snow people, Christmas ornaments and my book, Communication Breakthrough.
Our first visitor was Judy. She had introduced my talk on “Communication Tools for Conflict” at the Aviara Women’s Club in October. Soon we had many smiling folks checking out our wares. A woman with her teenage daughter perused my book and quoted, “When you…I feel…I want…”. She nodded and said that she was a big advocate of good communication. My hairdresser popped over from her daughter’s outdoor 4-H booth to buy a book. People also snapped up my painted elephants, hummingbirds and giraffes – both on cards and shirts. I had fun painting pet’s names on the back of dog and cat ornaments. Kids loved choosing a squishy snow person doll to take home. We also gave out free pumpkin mini-muffins.
My sister Bonny had shipped a box of 40 new blank shirts she donated, so that I could use them for tie-dye or painting. My husband displayed my art by wearing a shirt with an elephant print as he walked around the Fair. My sister Josefa came from out of town to help set up and sell products. She worked the booth, engaging warmly with everyone who came by. Later my sister Anita arrived, looked around and re-organized our table for better visibility. She also brought us lunch. Her son, Gabriel, carried our Christmas frame around the grounds to sell and returned in twenty seconds with a big smile and cash in hand.
Later that evening, a group of us went bowling. I was the only one who didn’t bowl a strike. But, hey, I was content. Why? Because sales from our craft fair booth totaled three times what I usually make at this Fair. This year all my profits are going to RAICES, to help families at the border. I even surpassed my RAICES fundraising goal! That was MY big strike of the day.