The Franklin Fall Festival is an event that I went to pretty much every year that I can remember growing up. I remember lots of funnel cakes, music, dancers, free giveaways and walking up and down Main Street with my friends or family going booth to booth. Since moving off to college, I’m sure that I can count on one hand the number of times that I have attended. So I was a little surprised when one of my friends sent me a message after I posted some of my recent builds on Facebook. She thought that I should consider doing a booth at the fall festival artist market.
I only had to mull it over a few minutes before I reached out to my parents to see if they were planning on attending this year and to let them know that I was considering participating. I had been thinking about doing an event of this sort to display my woodworking since my inventory closet was starting to get full but the introvert side of me did not like the idea of standing in a booth making small talk with people. However, the idea of doing a booth with the help of my family and knowing that I would likely know at least 25% of the people that stopped by made it seem like a good first step.
I spent the next 6 weeks building up my inventory of items to bring and putting together the tables and tent I would need for my section. I won’t lie, my anxiety level was pretty high especially the last 2 weeks trying to make sure everything was done in time. I was getting up before the kids to sand and oil boards and taking over the guest bedroom to put finish coats on plant stands. I was even having bad dreams about my booth not being set up and ready at the designated time! But, it all came together in the end.
The day of the event went by in a blur. My parents helped me rock and roll that morning and my booth was ready on time. My mom turned out to be a rock star at selling and quickly learned the types of wood so that she could describe the products in detail to our customers. I saw the pride that she has in me as she turned almost every conversation with someone she knew into what an amazing woodworker her daughter was. My dad pushed the introvert side of me to get out and start talking to people that were moseying around the booth and made sure that everyone left with a small bottle of mineral oil to maintain the health of their cutting boards. My brother and sister-in-law even came to support us and my brother attempted to coach me on how to sell!
All in all it was a wonderful day getting to see so many faces I hadn’t seen in years. Everyone was very supportive and kind. I even got to meet two woodworkers that stopped by- one who works a lot with the lathe and another who primarily uses hand tools.
What will I remember the most? I remember noticing early on in the day how almost every person that stopped by ran the palm of their hand across a cutting board or coaster or bookshelf. At first is struck me as odd- it was such a familiar gesture for me but I hadn’t realized others might have that same urge to reach out and touch the wood. It reminded me of one of my first woodworking classes where they carried us around showing us different types of wood in their store. I found myself having a hard time not reaching out and touching each piece as we passed. Why? I believe that each wood’s grain structure is so beautiful to the eye, it is hard to believe that it could be smooth to your skin. So you have to reach out to see for yourself!
