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TATE'S
2006 HALLOWEEN SALE Report
Posted
10/29/06
Tate's Comics annual Halloween sale was my first
outdoor show, and though hopes were high, the
reality of outdoor events hit us like the proverbial
ton of bricks. While beautiful most of the time
(even during hurricane season), South Florida
has the ability to throw rain at you for absolutely
no good reason and at the most inopportune times.
Living here all my life, I should have expected
that the first 2 hours of my first outdoor event
would be spent waiting out the rain. Trapped
under our new pop-up tent, which, of course,
leaked at the seams, Andrew cursed the heavens
while I splashed around angrily in the forming
puddles.
Ahhhh, but Mother Nature is not without her
sense of humor, because just when the rain stopped
and we began unloading and setting up, she doused
us with a second wave. Quick, put the art away!!
After a short time, it stopped again, and an
hour into the event, after moving the entire
setup twice to escape flooded areas, we were
finally able to fully setup.
In between rain showers, we actually managed
to smile for a minute.. not that anyone could
see.
Now because of the rain, Tate had to unfurl
his tent walls to protect his merchandise. Unfortunately,
we were right across from the newly deployed
tent wall, which severly diminished our exposure
and cut off nearly all foot traffic as shoppers
had to enter on the far side and often didn't
even notice us.
We are nothing if not outside-the-box thinkers,
so we decided to move our booth closer to the
main tent entrance and turn the entire setup
so that shoppers would see the art as they came
towards us. We took down all the artwork, and
with the help of our neighbors, Philip
and Frances McCall of Mythix Studios, and
a surprise helping hand from the producer of
the upcoming Florida
Supercon show, we were able to relocate
the booth without taking apart the gridwall
system. After a successful move to a better
vantage point, we put the art back up and sat
down with renewed hope.
Hahaha! The joke was on us. Even without the
rain, Mother Nature demonstrated that she was
still in charge as she sent gust after gust
of thundershower winds at us. And now that we
were turned, with our backs to the wind, the
hanging art began to flop. Putting up a pop-up
tent wall worsened the situation as the solid
fabric wall merely gave the wind more surface
area with which to shake the entire tent and
the gridwalls attached to it.
Fine, fine. We took down the art and turned
the whole booth again so the wind was no longer
a problem. True, we were now facing the same
direction as when we started, but at least we
were closer to the crowd. Things looked like
they were turning around as a few shoppers noticed
us and came over.
*Sigh*. I should have known it was too good
to be true. Suddenly, the sky opened up and
the rain came pouring down. It was heavier than
the morning showers AND accompanied by even
stronger winds. Things went flying. We raced
around in a vain attempt to make order out of
the chaos and keep things from getting wet.
Next to us, Mythix Studios was going through
the same thing.
After a little while, the rain lighted up, but
we were too exhausted to give it another go.
Most of the shoppers had left. The majority
of our merchandise had been repacked and stored.
The sky was still dark and threatening, and
the forecast said it would rain all afternoon
and into the evening.
Admitting that things were not going to get
any better, we called it a day. We talked to
Tate, who gave us the terrible news that Sunday
was going to be a rainy day as well and offered
that we probably shouldn't even bother. We packed
up and headed home to lick our wounds and prepare
for next weeks show: Florida
Supercon.
Don't worry, it's indoors.
-- Brian
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