July 28-Aug 1, 2009.  Myrtle Point, OR

Sunday, July 26

We wasted no time departing the Jefferson County Fair as we woke up at the break of day and headed over to tear down and pack up our things.  We left around 8:00 AM. The drive from Sisters to Springfield (near Eugene) was very scenic, as Highways 20 and 128 took us around curves, next to rivers, amongst the trees.  Really nice and relaxing and it gave us an opportunity to chill out after a very rough 5-days at the worst county fair we have ever sold at.

SISTERS, OR.   Really nice area and the town usually has a good number of tourists in this town West of Redmond.  People told me that they have shows there just about every weekend and nobody does any good.  Kind of worn out.  Tourists will buy but the locals have had enough of the craft fairs   This being Sunday, I kept my eyes open for one and eventually spotted one in a small parking lot next to the highway.  Maybe 40-50 booths, but they were in four rows and the spaces looked like tight 10x10's.  I passed by at 9:30 and there were only a handful open at the time.  Couldn't find a parking space nearby to fit the motor home, so I just kept on driving.  There was a row on the left and one on the right.  There was a double row of booths right down the middle situated back-to-back.  What caught my attention is that there was maybe 8-10 feet between the rows and it looked like it would be hell getting out of there.

ARRIVED IN MYRTLE POINT at 2:30 and checked in.  A couple days early.  We drove over to our space and set up our canopy and grids and threw everything inside and covered up.  To be continued Monday morning at 10:00AM.  Too tired today to continue.  Hit the hay at 7:00; woke up at 5:30.  That's what you call sleeping.

Monday, July 27.  Continued setting up in the morning and it got a little too hot and humid around 1:15, so we closed up and came back out after watching the Red Sox beat the A's on NESN and to make it even better, the Yankees lost to the Rays.  Magnificent.  We fixed up things in the canopy until 8:15 and headed to the motor home for the night.

Tuesday, July 28.  Opening day.  We left the motor home around 9:30, thinking that the fair started at 11:00.  Had an hour or so worth of stuff to do.  We had our first customers around 10:30, a couple of elderly ladies who had gotten in on the Senior Citizen plan. FREE.  They had been here last year and bought from us, so we gave them a returning customer discount of 20 percent.  Nice.  Soon after that, a couple in the 60's come inside the booth and the lady shows me the shoulder she had bought previously in Yuma a couple years ago.  Wow.  What a small world.

SALES WERE GOOD UNTIL around 2:30 and the number of people tapered off.  Too hot.  Every move I made brought sweat to my face and neck.  Very humid.  I didn't sweat like this in Madras last week.

WHEN I WENT BACK TO THE MOTOR HOME FOR LUNCH, I discovered that my electricity was off.  On Monday, I was plugged into a double connection wall receptacle in back and a lady next door had plugged in and turned on her air conditioner.  ZAP.  Power off.  I raced outside and saw her walking in the vicinity of the receptacle.  She said that her power went off.  I checked the plug and I pushed the button and nothing happened.  I changed outlets for the evening and when I left for the booth on Tuesday AM, everything was fine.  Don't know what could have happened.  The people in the booth behind us had some kind of aquarium setup and I figured that they blew another one.  All the outlets were taken and I gave some thought to shifting some of them around but I didn't.  Got one of my spotlights and checked the outlet and thank gosh, it didn't work.  I'd hate to have to dig around for another fuse for the motor home.  It then took a couple calls and a couple hours to get the think fixed.  Stay tuned.

THE KIDS are all over the place during the evening and it's an entirely different crowd.  Loads of kids screaming and yelling on the rides.  Kids grabbing the stuff on my table left and right.  No good for sales and things will be slow the remainder of the night.  The kids have over-run the place.  Hardly seen any adults at 8:45PM and am looking forward to closing up at 10:00PM tonight.  Installed our lights about an hour ago and they are set up.  Got the computer plugged in, but can not get the internet.  Here we go again.  I last was on around 3:00, so I think that they turned it off for the night.  So be it.  Yesterday they were on all hours of the night and I thought I had a nice reliable connection. 

I WAS SITTING DOWN IN THE BACK OF THE BOOTH when this tall guy comes in wearing a Yankee ballcap.  I looked up at him.  "Maybe you'd like to trade in that cap for one of our hats," I told him.  We both laughed.  It turned out the guy was Pete from Coos Bay with whom I have been corresponding with on our forum.  Great to meet him.  I guess that he was here with his lovely wife for a couple hours and we discussed many things about various shows and events.  Hopefully, he'll get a booth here next year as he does many events in the Charleston-Bandon-Coos Bay areas.  He did a show in North Bend a couple weeks ago (when we were in Winchester Bay) and he said it was more windy than what we experienced because you have the winds coming off both the bay and the ocean there.  It's a beautiful area there though.  Many years ago we used to take trips from California up to the sand dunes areas, etc.  I wish that I would have taken a photo of Pete and I together.  He had his Yankee hat on and I had my Red Sox hat.  I would have placed it right here...darnit.

VENDORS.  A good number of vendors around here selling all kinds of things. My good friends Lyn and John make and sell their tie-dye shirts at great prices.  Stop by and pick up some.  We are located just two booths from them...come on over and see us too!!!  We are in the middle of two booths selling sunglasses and blankets.  There are two 'god-squad' solicitors here and I am grateful that they are restricted to the confines of their booths.  Two years ago, these people were running to the middle of the aisle slapping their reading material on the tops of people's noses. But the new Pope passed Commandment number 11.  Thou shalt keep within the confines of one's own booth.  Speaking of blankets, there was a lady selling blankets next to us two years ago who smoked and drank soda's excessively.  She would always toss the butts and can's in the area between our two booths and wouldn't bother to pick them up for day's.  S.L.O.B.

 As for the food,  my favorite Pizza guy is not here.  I don't think he did very good last year.  I like getting Pepperoni Pizza from him because it tastes like Maruca's on the Seaside Heights (NJ) Boardwalk and it reminds me of the many times I strolled the boardwalk there.  My favorite Philly Cheesesteak vendor is here....best one at a fair I have ever had and I know you are just dying to hear my report on it.  Will hold off a couple more days on it until I can smell it a couple dozen times passing by.  We have the Thai food here again which my wife really likes and they always have long lines of 30-35 people at night.  Michelle is here along with her fantastic smoothies which are the best I have ever had. You really need to see her booth, which has won many awards over the years at fairs in Oregon and California. There's another booth with Italian Sausages which are better than most of the one's you get at other fairs.  Overall, the food here is pretty decent.

TEENYBOPPERS.  Oh gosh.  Here we go again.  A bunch of girls entered the booth and one of them grabs hold of one of our belly dancer skirts and asks if she can try it on.  I hear her mention something about a camera and I jump up out of my seat.  I see her friend holding a camera getting ready to shoot.  "You are not going to take a picture of that."  I told her.  "When can I get a picture." the  BLOND asks me.  "When you buy it."  hasta la vista.  They all left.  

PICTURES.  As the week goes on, I will be providing you with shots of the fair.  It was too hot today to run around.  Who wants to go around the place in 90-degree temperatures that feels 10 degrees warmer because of the humidity.  IT WAS STICKY HOT.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE FORUM.  Come on down and read what people have to say about shows, etc. 

Wednesday, July 29.  Started off the day somewhat overcast and cool.  As noon approached, the clouds began to dissipate and the humidity was setting in. Will be 84+ degrees today. 

VERY SLOW THIS MORNING.  Didn't really know what time the fair started.  Got there at 10:30 and couldn't tell whether it was open or not.  Maybe just vendors walking around.  It appears to be a slow day coming up. Wednesday is always the slowest day here and Thursday is a little better.

WEATHER FORECAST.  A couple days ago, I checked the forecast for this coming Saturday, the last and busiest day and it was showing showers.  However, I checked this morning and we are good through the week, with temperatures decreasing.  If they hadn't moved this far back a week, we would have been up in Olympia, WA for the Thurston County Fair where it is 104 degrees today and sweltering all over the state of Washington.  Heard it was 105+ yesterday along Highway 5.  We are 30 miles from the coast and much cooler, thank gosh.

ANOTHER MILLION DOLLAR IDEA.  Things were slow earlier today.  I had broken my sunglasses and they were unfixable.  I dug out our duct tape and went to work taping my sunglasses to my hat.  Neat.  A hat with sunglasses.  Price $39.95.  What an idea.  I went next door and was looking at my neighbor's sunglasses for $10.  I picked up a pair and was preparing to try them on when he told me to go across the aisle and buy a pair from the other guy for $5.00.  Well, that's what I did.  I walked across and showed the guy my hat with sunglasses and he didn't want to get in on the ground floor with a $5,000 investment so that was that.  I picked up a pair of sunglasses and tried them on.  Good.  Fit snugly.  

BAD HAIR DAY.  Power to the motor home went out yesterday afternoon, broke my sunglasses, zipper broke on the canopy covers, wife lost sunglasses,  had to wait 45 minutes for UPS delivery truck (for a package from home with my bills), slow sales today, customer found broken zippers on two bags, ran out of water in the motor home, lost my free internet connection (fair now charging me an unfair $19.95 until Sunday).  And it's only 5:00PM.  NOTE:  Received an email from the Internet Connection saying that our service is free.  Nice.  Going to refund me the $$$$.

VENDORS.  I do believe that a number of vendors have had slow sales so far during this fair.  We were saved by the Senior Citizens and return customers yesterday.  Since late yesterday afternoon, it's been just about all kids here.  Hope it changes tonight. 

KIDS BE BORED.  Teenagers in groups of 5-7 walking around from booth to booth.  5 came into my booth and each one grabbed something and played with it.  I stood next to them and they left.  One had very shifty eyes and kept watching me while playing with our necklaces.   You just know it's going to happen.  They left the booth and  walked across the aisle and they each tried on a pair of sunglasses and then moved on to the next victim.  This scene is repeated all night long with different groups of kids.  I guess that's all part of doing business at county fairs.  You really need to keep an eye on these people

ANOTHER GROUP of 5 came in.  Three girls went to one side and tried on our belly dancer skirts.  A guy and a girl went to the other side and tried on one of our 'coolie hats.'  All he girls said 'hee hee hee hee.'  The other girl grabbed one of our parasols and handed it to him and he made a jackass out of himself.  After that, they all left.  These peope don't have any money and just like to go around #(*#)))ing with people's stuff.  Whatever happened to the good ol' days when they would come into the booth and the guy would buy a necklace or dress for the lady.  I guess nobody has any money.  Economy is bad and these kid's do not realize that vendors are trying to sell this stuff.

MUCH COOLER NIGHT.  Actually had to put my sweater on and close up the back of the booth.  Looks like the hot spell is over.  Thank gosh.

CLOSED UP AT 10:00.  Bunch of kids buying sun glasses.  That was the only thing selling. That's right, buying sunglasses at 10:00 at night.  Looked all over the place and there were just packs of kids all over the place socializing.  Not really that many going on the rides.  Just a place to meat (good description) and hang.  Didn't see any adults at all.  There was a good time when we got good sales during the evening, but I don't know anymore

Thursday, July 30.

Another pleasant morning.  Cool with sun clouds.  Sun appeared around 11:30, but it is pleasantly warm.

FOOD.  THE CHEESESTEAK KID STRIKES AGAIN. Well, I had my Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich over here.  I am just alloting myself one this year.  Really need to control my expenses also.  $7.50.  It was pretty good.  Had him pile on lots of onions, peppers and mushrooms.  Gosh, sounds good just writing about it.  Maybe another one on Saturday.  Haven't tried much else.  Was going to try the Italian Sausage, but that's what my wife is cooking tonight.  They have decent breakfasts over here and I am tempted.  At least get some buscuits and gravy.

SALES today have been sporadic.  We had a group of 'people with special needs' stop by and we were more than happy to help them out with their purchases.   They alway visit the fair each year.  The crowds are up from yesterday and there appears to be more life today.  It was like deadsville yesterday.  But oh my gosh.....this singing I have to listen to during the early PM has GOT TO GO!!!  Looks like we are blessed with the same performance every day.  Later on I hope to hear this gal belt out some really good tunes.  She wasn't bad yesterday. 

Slow throughout the afternoon and not much spending in the vendor area.  Activities are minimal around the place.  Some kids on the rides.  Not really too many adults strolling the grounds.   Bored and broke teenyboppers roaming through the booths.  Pacing back and forth, back and forth....to the food, to the carnival, step over to a booth put on sunglasses, put them back, over to my booth....put on a hat, giggle... grab one of my wooden flexible snakes and wave it through the air.

My wife left because she was cold at 9:00 and I stayed in the booth until 10:30 and picked up some sales.  Hit the sack around 11:35, but they had something happening in the rodeo area and the lady on the microphone was kind of loud.  Come on people, it's almost midnight and the fair is over at 11:00.  Give us a break.

Friday, Jul 31

Looks like another slow day although it's Friday.  Sporadic sales and not much of a crowd.  Some families walking around and kids also.

WEATHER looks good.  Morning overcast and a bit cool until early afternoon.

SALES PICKED UP FOR US during the middle part of the afternoon.  Many more families walking around and at least, buying things for their 4-9 year olds.

A GUY PURCHASED ONE OF OUR BETTER HATS.  He had on an old beat-up ball cap and asked me if he could trade it in.  I looked at it.  I looked at him.  "No.  But if it was a Yankee hat, I could burn it for you."  We both laughed.

Sent my wife 'home' at 9:00 and I stayed in the booth until 11:00.  The rodeo finished around 9:30 and I had a few people browsing around after that.  Lots of teens standing around doing their thing.  A bit cool during the evening but it felt good after what we went through earlier this week and last.

KETTLE KORN.  This morning while I was walking around I spotted a kettle korn booth that suddenly sprouted up overnight.  "Oh I see you popped in over here." I told the lady.  I found out later that this booth was way over on the other side where there was very little traffic flow and they had virtually no business.  Should be in the main flow of traffic and that is where they moved to.

MUSIC was pretty good.  They had a 'Lil ol Opry' going on over at the stage and it was pretty good.  It was loud enough to be heard throughout the fairgrounds and quite entertaining and it probably perked up things.  It was 'good buying' music.  I've heard music at other shows that was very loud and disturbing and that was another kind of 'good by' music and it would run people away.

RODEO seemed to be quite lively and there was a good-sized crowd watching and it appeared to be quite enjoyable for them.

Sometimes I get the impression that you need good head-liner entertainment to draw crowds, but I would say that we had a pretty good number of people and I don't necessarily think that holds true.  This fair does draw people on the weekend and opening day.  However, those other two days, Wednesday and Thursday are somewhat dead.

Saturday, August 1.  Nice weather again. Overcast in the AM; warmer during the afternoon.

They had a parade downtown at 10:00, but I really didn't notice any kind of influx here afterward.  Strollers, stragglers, etc.  Sales were slow during the morning, picked up a bit during the early afternoon and tailed off.  Was hoping this was payday for some people.  Apparantly not. 

FIVE INTO THE BOOTH.  Pick up a couple snakes, twirl them around...ha ha ha.  Put on a hat....hee heee heeee.  Look at some stuff.....'that's so cute' and out they go.  FOUR MORE IN...FOUR QUICKLY OUT.  Seven zombies in, seven zombies out.  Three people with no money in, three people with no money out.  We would have a sudden surge of sales, but not continuous.  Very dissapointing for "THE DAY,"  You know what I mean?

TEN DOLLARS is a hell of a lot of money to pay for this.  This is not a big-time state fare.  You are out in the middle of East Gadzokooka.  Throw in another 5 bucks to park and a couple ride tickets for your kids at $25 a pop....whoa, Charlie.  Not much left for the vendors, huh?  Who cares about the vendors anyway?

FOR SALE:  NOW YOU CAN OWN A PIECE OF THE MINEFIELD.  I am selling 2ftx2ft squares of grass from the field in "THE MINE FIELD" in front of us at the Jefferson County Fair last week.  Very well fertilized.  Only $195.00 apiece.  Hurry.  Offer limited to supply on hand.

SALES PLUMMETED DURING the evening hours.  Completely different that last year's Saturday over here.  I'll be down around 70 percent just for Sunday and 40 per cent for the show.  Same story for many of the other vendors.  THAT $10 admission fee is a killer.  Nowhere near last year's crowd.  Kids forking out $25 for the rides tonight, but not much else.  There are a couple booths that are doing somewhat okay, but few and far between.  Disapointing. We started packing around 8:30 and at 10:10, we closed up and left our stuff in the canopy, ready for us to pick up at 6:00AM.  Meet me in St. Louis!!!

Please check out the other events in our 2009 Oregon trip: