Though we’ve only attended and participated in two fairs so far, they have definitely been exciting and I cannot wait for the next to begin this weekend. We are by far the loudest booth around for sure and our neighbouring vendors are always entertained by the attention we get and all the people reading the banner out loud “I GREW MY BOOBS IN CHINA?!” and all the varied reactions to it.

We’ve been very successful so far but the key is verbally grabbing people out of the aisles. Overcoming the shyness of approaching people is the hardest part.

Though most people do come over to talk, I think that has a lot to do with the stereotype of Canadian’s being too polite. People would rather suffer through the spiel than offend anyone. Haha, I love that and would totally be guilty of doing the same.

Of course without Bree (she wasn’t able to come to the first fair), we don’t have as much power, but considering, I think Mom and I do extremely well. Mom actually amazes me with her ability to sell and approach people. She organizes all the fairs for me, makes the posters, the business cards, the website, there is so much backstage stuff that she takes care of! She is a wonderful manager and I’m so proud of her and so grateful that she is willing to help me. I know many other vendors don’t have that kind of support and I wouldn’t be able to experience this success without her! **round of applause to Mom please***

During our first event, The Great Canadian Craft Fair in Cloverdale, and despite it being the smallest fair on our schedule, we still had lots of sales and most importantly met amazing people, were greeted warmly by fans and were surrounded by fun vendors. One of the highlights about being at the fairs is getting to know all of our fellow vendors. We always end up doing trades, talking, laughing and sharing our food and snacks.

I want to give a quick blurb of recognition to each of the people/companies/products I fell in love with. 

Many Splendored Things:

Shirley Marshall, the friendly lady across from us in Cloverdale was selling the most unique jewelry made of antique forks and spoons. I actually had a sihpromatum with her! She bought my book and when I went over to sign her copy with a personal message, I realized I’d grabbed a copy of volume #2! Eep!! Not used to having two books, so I laughed at myself and insisted she take them 2 for 1 as it was my mistake! Well, she was friendly enough to offer a trade for the second book and I walked away with one of her beautiful dessert fork bracelets. 

I absolutely loved her designs and could hardly make up my mind when I was picking one out. If you love jewelry and want something special, I highly recommend her products! She is an extremely creative, hardworking lady who is a real inspiration, from Surrey, B.C.! 

Good Food. Real Fast.

Good Food. Real Fast! It potentially is exactly that! I haven’t had the chance to open up and make the delicious dip myself but I was thoroughly impressed when I tried the samples from Julie and her lovely husband who were across the aisle from us at the Great Canadian Craft fair in Cloverdale. They have some delicious products that I would highly recommend from what I tried. I ended up trading for moroccan mint and beat dip and the chipotle, bacon and cheddar dip. I would’ve taken the whole booth home if I could. 

Although we didn’t talk much during the fair, they had this great energy about them the whole time. It wasn’t until after the show that her husband told me that he was tempted to take a picture of someone who was taking a picture of someone taking a picture of our massive new “I GREW MY BOOBS IN CHINA” banner. How brilliant would that have been?!!! I was happy to have confirmation of how effective and eye catching our title is.

Coconama

If you love chocolate and you love flavours, you must try this company’s huge variety. It’s all made by the local Japanese man who was actually at both Great Canadian Craft, Cloverdale and West Coast Women’s Show, Abbotsford. He always gives out delicious samples, so naturally his booth was way too crowded to get an in depth conversation with him. My favourite ice-cream is green-tea so the green tea chocolate was a no brainer for me.

Natural Energy Wellness

Because I just bought my very first car and am super excited to pamper the Bookmobile, Mom encouraged me to go over and check out the beautiful rearview mirror crystal balls. Was I ever glad I did, as I met the loveliest people, Gerry and Margit. They told me all about each stone’s special energy and purpose. If you love that kind of spiritual, special stone energy like I do, you should really look them up. We traded and I was so excited to hang this beauty in my car. By the end of the fair, they invited the family to come share our story at their meditation class in Pitt Meadows. I’m very excited to meet the group and feel their positive energy. We’ll be there on Sunday December 7th, the day before we fly back to Holland.

Gypsy Jean Jewellery

Serena was pregnant when we saw her last year, so it was very different seeing her again this year. She looks amazing. Bree has a few of her necklaces at home, they burst with colour and guess what, they are convertible necklaces! Super cool stuff that she makes. If you want to support a local artist, please check out her stuff. She is just lovely.

Relaxation Island

Absolutely wonderful people who come from Iran. The pure goodness they shared put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. They are the kind of people I remember from my travels, being so hospitable and willing to share anything they can. They were so generous and I cherish our book trade for microwavable slippers and two of those incredible head scratchy things. If you love relaxation and supporting wonderful people, ask them where they will be setting up their next booth!

Aji

WOW! Zing zang, delicious if you love to add spice in your life you can put these with anything, even slushies! Or at least, that’s what the vendor was doing. It sure is great to be able to support and promote a product you love. This was another great trade, my personal favourite was the medium hot flavour. Yum.

Passion Parties

Oh my goodness, we were vendor neighbours so you can imagine how much fun that would’ve been, with this pink “Passion Parties” sign right next to this big “I Grew My Boobs in China” banner. She was there again this year and came over to tell us how sad she was that we weren’t neighbours this year and that she missed our positive, fun energy.

Passion Parties bring very female oriented gifts and goodies to your home and have a blast! I must be honest, I have never ordered a party or any of their products, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t! I’d love for them to come over to Holland and dildo-up my house!

SUMinspiration 

We’ve met Summer and her amazingly supportive boyfriend at other fairs, so it was nice to see them again this year. Summer hand makes all of her soaps and bath bombs and not only do they smell delicious, she makes them into all kinds of adorable things. Ducks, candy canes, gingerbread men, unicorns, I’ve seen it all from her!

Everyday Luxury

Bree managed to sell a copy of the book to a guy named Alvin at the very end of the first day and he turned out to be running 6 of the booths at the show. Everyday Luxury was one of them. So soft and nice, I conveniently forgot that I have to lug the sheets back home on an airplane but they were certainly too good to leave behind. At  2 for $100 the fabulous price definitely helped in our decision to buy two. If you love bamboo or micro fibre sheets, these are the ones I chose. Still have yet to test them out! Alvin read the book over the weekend and ended up buying #2 as well.

I loved these people and their products because I believe in them as artists and want to share their passion with others. I’d love to know if any of you have heard of them before, or if you buy their products! There is such a wonderful blend of cultures and stories from everyone we meet. I wish I could tell them all.

I cannot wait for all of the big events coming up. Getting the chance to come to the big city and meet strangers (friends we haven’t met yet) and being surrounded by like-minded people really makes my days here special.

Tomorrow we leave early to catch the ferry to Victoria and set up our booth for the Creative Craft Fair which is on November 7-9th. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep because of the excitement.

Savannah Grace

P.S. to listen to my short interview, you can listen here

http://www.healthradio.fm/Interviews.htm    (it’s not perfect but this is exactly the kind of practice I need)