People out shopping at the Cotton District Arts FestivalFinally, an update on the festival! Saturday I attended the Cotton District Arts Festival in Starkville, MS. The Cotton District Festival has grown by leaps and bounds every year and this year was the largest festival with over a 100 vendors. Everything has to be handmade, the do not allow any mass produced items which I think is absolutely wonderful. I didn't get to walk around as much this year being a vendor but in years past there are painting, drawings, ceramics, jewlery, photography, clothing, wood crafts, and many more things. I was excited to be accepted and terrified at the same time. It was my very first festival and I was so scared that I wouldn't sell anything, that and it rained the first two hours we were there didn't help my spirits any!
We got there around 6:00 a.m., my mom and I, and just got the tent set up when it started raining. I quickly set up the tables, laid out my jewelry, and kind of waited on putting out my photos until it stopped raining. Around 8:30, 9:00ish it stopped raining and the people started coming out
I was really pleased with the reaction to my jewelry and my photography. I had a lot of people who really spent time in the booth looking at prints and saying how much they like them and actually sold several! I had some photographers, graphic designers, and architects stop by and gave me some great feedback and I couldn't be more thrilled with what they said. I even made a 10 year graphic designer look twice with my new photoshoped work and she couldn't tell if it was a straight photograph or if it was photoshoped. That made the entire day worthwhile. :) I also got lots of good feedback on the jewelry. I had several people say it was the most unique they had seen, the beads were very different, and best of all they bought it! Fifty four pairs were sold to be exact. I've been wearing my own stuff for years but who would have thought that other people would like it too! I sold just about every piece that I took, I think I had something like 6 or 8 pairs left. It just about totally cleaned out my etsy shop so I'm having to make new stock for that as we speak. Overall it was a great experience and me and mom had a ball. My booth neighbors were wonderful and really made the day very enjoyable. I'm already planning my next festival for in the fall and I can't wait. This one was a great learning experience and I have a lot of ideas for the next one. I hope all of you are having a great week!
Later Darlings!
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