Tuesday, March 29, 2016

West Portal Sidewalk Art Show 2016


     Spring in San Francisco! I  always look forward to this show, and I always forget how challenging a show it can be.

     My booth is on West Portal Ave., right on the corner in front of Starbucks.  Obviously, this is a great location for selling jewelry on the sidewalk. However, anyone who lives near there will be happy to tell you  about the microclimate of that particular hilly neighborhood of San Francisco. It can be extremely windy, and extremely cold. One year it was so cold that I almost cried, really.

     One year, the wind blew up the hill so forcefully that it blew over one of my tables of jewelry, including the glass display case on it. The glass flew into the gutter of the street, and shattered, thankfully, into those little cubes. I stood there like a mummy, so horrified I couldn't move or speak. Luck for me, one  of my dear customers was there, and she calmly got a broom from Starbucks and swept up the mess.I think I snapped out of it when I realized the jewelry was all over the street as well.

     Wind is really one of the worst of all the uncontrollable elements of outdoor art fairs. When the wind is blowing, tables are shaking, and things are smashing to the ground, it is hard to maintain any focus on the customer who may not be noticing these things. Most artists hate the wind, along with the rain and the cold, or the heat, but as they say, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Luckily in West Portal, I can get out of the cold or the heat by slipping  into  Starbucks for a small respite.

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About Me

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Calaveras County, California, United States
I love the stones and pearls, and the magic that happens when I combine them, and then again combined with the glass I make. You can find me at an Art show somewhere in Northern California most weekends during the spring and summer. Email me at FUNGIRLSJEWELRY@Gmail.com if you like.