Opening Day at the Market

It looks like the season is up and running well. Our Harbor Market started this past Saturday and was quite the success for most people involved. We had a record number of vendors for opening day and the crowd was heavy and constant.

Gas prices are very high here reaching $4.09. This may have been a reason for more people to stay home rather than travel for the holiday weekend. What ever the reason, it was a great day.

It started out cold, in the 40's and I was dressed in my Irish wool sweater and ski socks to keep the chill out. It did warm up by noon although the wind was from the NE and the "cooler by the lake" temps prevailed.

I had done a mailing from my customer appreciation list complete with a coupon and a list of my summer events. I'm sure that this brought many repeat customers back to the market. The market opens at 9 AM and by noon I was more than half sold out.

I always look at last years sales for the projected inventory needs but man, I was way off. I only brought home about 10 unsold bars of soap. I could have brought and sold much more I'm sure.

On a fun note, the local NPR radio station was there and did an on site interview with me. How fun is that? All day I had people coming up to tell me they heard me on the radio in the morning. Sweet! A little more advertising is always helpful. I pushed the environmental, sustainable green, movement in the interview to keep the buzz about local buying going for all vendors.

It was great to see my regular customers and vendors once again.

I hope that anyone else that is involved in local markets had a great weekend too.

Have a great rest of the spring and summer
Patti
www.pattispotions.com

What's growing in the garden

Spring is always and interesting time in our garden. Every year I plant more perennials and many reseed themselves.

A few years ago my daughter gave us a mushroom log. This is the first year it has produced. Of course I can't find the information on what kind of mushroom this is. Some say shiitake and some say portabella. If anyone has a clue, please let me know.