GVRen was my first show years ago and remains my favorite all these years later. The long-running joke among friends is that some of us alumni have been around the festival long enough that we’ve seen everything twice, and a weekend like this past one was no exception.

The weather was suboptimal on Saturday, but by no means the worst weather we’ve had. It was a bit chilly and gray, with winds just gusty enough to be truly annoying without being terribly dangerous to folks with experience handling their tents (many of ours are pop-pup style squares of varying weights) in windier conditions. Sunday was warmer, beautiful, with less wind and much more sunshine. Both days had fairly good traffic—much better than I would have expected with there being no home football game and no Homecoming or Family Weekend level events going on at the university. The students running festival did well and it was a lot of fun all the way around.

I tried out some new products this year and so did Jen, who finally debuted her business name (Funshine Designs) this year. Totally in love with her painted rocks. I did some embossed notebooks this year (lined, next time at Nora’s suggestion I’ll also be doing some unlined notebooks, possibly with a couple of colored pencils with them) and they did remarkably well. I also tried out some crochet goods this year and those did well, too—scarves and wraps. I sold out of the two wraps that I’d done in a box crochet pattern in the first few hours on Saturday and I’m sure I could have sold more if I’d had gotten to make them. Something to keep in mind.

This next year will be making some new goods with supplies I already have and building for the next round. Also need to break out the new light box for product photos and Etsy listings.

Going to be fun adventures with that, to say the least.

For now, coffee, probably some crochet, maybe a bit of writing, and letting my body recover from the weekend.