One Of Hundreds

It didn't snow on St. Patrick's Day, it sleeted. softly. Lightweight tiny hail-bits cascaded down from the sky at semi-regular intervals while my fingers froze to their core because I forgot my painting gloves. *chuckle* Amazingly, the day (and profits) were better than last year, when it rained for half of the day, but was somewhat warmer. The events were grand, with the square filled nearly to the brim with vendors, contests, rides and fun. I didn't get to see the girls in the parade because I was swamped with customers who were anxious to get decorated.

The Springfield Brewing Company let all of their waitstaff and bartenders off of work for a time during the parade festivities for the express purpose of coming to me to get "the coolest shamrock ever" painted on their faces, and that was a huge ego boost if I do say so myself. *grin* The photo above is of one of the great many happy faces I helped to create on the 17th. (likeness used with parental permission, catch of Z in the pic, a complete accident. Hi Z! I can see you!!!)

We had an absolute blast, even if we did manage to not take a picture of the booth and setup, or the lovely rainbow & pot o' gold I'd made for the event. We're going to make that a regular thing for the parade from now on, it was a HUGE hit! We didn't sell much blarney this year, but we almost sold out of the lip conditioner, and our "Gaelic Green" Vita-FizZ sold rather well as both a candy and a hangover cure. *wink*

Having prices on everything and a tip jar proved to be a very wise move, as we ended up with quite a surprising amount (though anything beyond the marked prices would have surprised me) in tips alone from our happy customers. We learned that we need to have a rope line to corral the customers for face painting so they don't block the product displays, but that is a lesson learned, and we'll be sure to implement it as soon as possible.

I met back up with a lot of old and new friends and acquaintances, which has become one of the expected joys of this particular event. It was great to see how many people were willing to brave the cold for a bit of family fun!

We're still exhausted and sore all over, but it was a great day of work, and almost too much fun, so it was well worth it, and that's what it's really all about.