11.14.21
Yesterday was amazing! My first bazaar of 2021 is in the books with three more to follow. After a year of being unable to attend “in person” bazaars due to the virus and state rules, it truly was wonderful. To be out there setting up my tables, showcasing my homemade wares, anticipation ran high amongst myself and the other vendors in the hall. Watching and wondering how many people would come through the doors, all set to wander the aisles and shop for the holidays. Yes, anticipation was high but also tinged with that feeling of suspense… were people ready to get back to some sense of normalcy?
Anxiously I displayed my soaps and lotions, bath bombs and lip balm, my books, my Christmas Gift Tins and my peanut brittle. Setting everything out for the first time in well over a year. Slight changes were of course in evidence. I did not have my customary plate of peanut brittle scraps available for people to sample and the sign on the front door proclaimed masks were still required – the table by the door holding a box of face masks and a big jug of hand sanitizer. Yes, the reminders were still there.
The doors opened and folks began drifting in. How wonderful it was to see all those familiar faces! Watching them wander past tables filled with all manner of things from crocheted hats and scarves to beautiful wooden ornaments and signs. A bazaar is a place to show off one’s love of making handcrafted wares, but it is actually so much more than that. It is a place for friends to meet, a place for folk from neighbouring villages to get together for a chat, a place for little girls and boys to shyly look at things for sale, wondering if they have enough money to buy something. A village bazaar is something special! It always amazes me how far some folk drive just to attend these small events – small in comparison to big city ones that is.
The past couple of years have been challenging for those who have a small business. So many rules and regulations have come down the pipeline to put a damper on what one can and cannot do, so that many businesses have closed their doors, never to reopen. For some, a good part of their livelihood has been stripped away slowly but surely. Many though have hung on, finding different ways to make it through the shutdowns and the barriers. The internet has been a blessing, at least to me and some of my other handcrafter friends. We found a way last year to still attend local bazaars, albeit “virtually”! Yet it was not the same.
For me, part of the charm of attending a local bazaar is being able to talk to my customers. To share with them why I started down the road of making soaps and lotions, sharing my love of creating something that other people seem to enjoy! The shopkeeper in me delights in packaging up their sales in the various sized brown paper bags I keep under the tables. To show them the latest additions such as my Fuzzy Felted Soaps or Beehive Bath Bombs. Enjoying the surprise on their faces when I tell them to pick out a lip balm to throw in their bag for free for being such a good customer. Yes, all of these things can only be done face to face, not over the computer.
At last, some semblance of normalcy seems to be returning to our little area of Oregon. No matter what, the human entrepreneurial spirit will prevail! Things may have changed, adaptations made, yet on we plod. Resourceful, resolute and resilient! Let the bazaar season begin!