So my latest outing, attempting to bring my art to the masses, was situated at the Southside Festival next to Victoria Park in the south of Glasgow. I was looking forward to this one for a number of reasons, a) it was only 15mins away from where I live/am based, 2) it is a festival that is free…ie, loads of people and c) it was to be the hottest day in May in Scotland since records began!!
So the day began at a nice and healthy 8am, no need to get up at stupid o’clock, although Jac felt the need to get up at 6 to get herself ready……I dunno….Anyway, loading the van was nice n easy, only had a few boxes, things are starting to streamline! When we got there there weren’t many other people setting up, so seemed pretty empty but people soon started to arrive. Most of the stalls had been taken up by around half 10, the majority of those were charities, however the pitches either side of us were still empty. That didnt last long, I was just in the process of telling Jac that we were the only ones selling the specific type of products when we noticed that someone was about to start setting up next to us.That person was none other than Gillian Kyle (you can find her website at gilliankyle.com). For those that dont know, she sells items, such as tote bags and t-shirts, that have been branded with illustrations of Scottish products. Gill is a thoroughly nice person and even gave me some advice for places that I could go to help promote my stuff. It was quite a nice looking section of stalls if I do say so myself, Gill had her items which were predominantly white contrasting with mine which were predominantly dark (I had put up a marquee side behind me to protect from the wind) it was almost like a wee boutique in itself.
The day progressed nicely, lots of really positive feedback from customers and visitors. Jac was out front sunbathing whilst I decided to play it smart and stay in the shade. I had decided against the kilt for this occasion purely based on the weather, it was crazy hot, was starting to sweat whenever I went for a wee wander. However Scotland being Scotland there was a slight problem with the weather, namely the wind. It wasnt too bad to begin with, however it did start to pick up, and in doing so had started to destroy one of the stalls next to us. The stalls were common market stalls, metal frames covered by a tarpaulin. The wind had caught the tarp next to us an was pulling apart the metal frame. The event person on hand wasnt doing much help, whose only suggestion to solve the problem was to take the tarp off the entire row of stalls….which quite frankly was just mental. In doing that would have put everyones stall in jeopardy, had it rained (which it didnt in the end) and it would have been biblical rain due to the crazy heat, everyones stock would have got wet, also the wind would then have just been blowing everyones stuff around…So it came down to yours truly to solve the problem. Tie the metal frame together so that it doesnt come apart…..It baffles me why people try to solve problems that would end up causing bigger problems. It’s like using a hammer for a thumb-tac….bizarre.
After that like fiasco, everything started to calm down. All that needed to be done was to take apart the stall and pack up. This also ended up being really easy, I think I’m getting the hang of it! The next event I’ll be at is the Highland Games in Cornhill, which is near Banff and Macduff, in two weeks. So its a crazy o’clock set off time for that one. The difference with this one is that I shall be accompanied by my father, due to Jac setting up an indoor carboot sale…Fingers crossed for a good weekend.
Tags: events, southside festival, tour