Well my first event of the year has been and gone, all in all it went rather well.
Ok so I’ll not be giving up the day job just yet, though I would need to get a day job to give up first, but I think I did ok for my first crack of the whip.
The day started at 6.30 am when I decided to get up, with the aid of my girlfriend, and make a move. Had to load all the stuff into the spanky new van….well new to me. True to form it didnt run smoothly. I found out that the clothing rail, which I had to purchase specifically for the event (I was given other rails, but my nephew would have been able to blow them over) wouldnt fit into the van….aahhh panic! It was too long by about an inch….redonkalus!! I managed to fix sed problem by removing one of the sides/legs, even then its a tight fit, just as well that I dont mind about scratches….
The journey then began, took only 20 mins to get to Gourock, iPod told me it would be 44 with traffic…..liar!! So we were miles ahead of schedule. Set up at the event in no time as well, so we ended up having a good few hours to kill. Nothing really kicked off until around 12, and no-one really started visiting the stalls till 1.
There were the same faces passing rather often, so I was starting to lose hope a bit on whether I was going to sell anything, I had sold some t-shirts and bags to the stall holders next to me which was nice, so at least it wasnt going to be a total waste of time. The parents then turned up, complete with sandwiches….which was very much needed as hadnt really eaten anything other than breakfast. they bought a few items which was nice, if you cant even sell to your own parents you gotta be doing something wrong!!
Around 3 things started to pick up!! Yay!! Bags were going, badges were selling and people were commenting on the t-shirts. Only sold a few of my Seconds Map t-shirt (thats a whole other story) but people were liking the Creamola foam prints. The crowd pleasers (pictured above) were doing a good few rounds and seemed very interested in the stall. Thoroughly nice people. 
There was plenty going on around the event, heavy events, pipers…..alot of them and highland dancers. Everything I guess you would expect at a highland games I guess. I keep forgetting how MASSIVE the heavy events guys are. Built like brick houses!! My aim for this year is to have one of them, at any games, to buy a t-shirt from my “Urban Heavy Events” range. (Ok theres only two of them at the moment…but I’m working on more)
In the end it was a great day, and a very good test for my first event. the next one will hopefully be even better.
I’ll be at the Southside Festival on the 22nd May, my next Highland Games is in Cornhill, up near Banff and Macduff. So will be a very early morning for that one…..
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