After a few days of resting and restoring my physical and mental status I’m finally ready to share about our experience as new vendors. Last Sunday 8/8/21 we had a tent for the first time to sell our talents at the latest Lunar Faire NJ. If you haven’t heard about this AMAZING night market, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! Just kidding. Here is what I wrote after our first adventure and there will be an updated, separate post to follow because holy bananas has this thing evolved.
For the last few weeks, Sid and I have spent basically all our free time prepping table inventory for our tent. This has meant late nights, early mornings, ignoring our kids (don’t worry, they aren’t that neglected) and stressing about what to have/make and getting everything ready by the day of.
OF COURSE we weren’t totally ready. Did you expect me to say I was so organized and had my shit together and everything went so smoothly? HA! You don’t know me at all fools! It has been pure chaos. Happy chaos, mind you, but still insanity.
When the day finally arrived I was still panic crocheting because, well, it’s me. Thankfully, we had help with the kids that allowed us to pack up the van and get up to the site on time. Upon arrival Tiff (one of the best organizers around) said “Everything is fucked, numbers mean nothing. You know Chad? That’s Chad, pull up and set up”. I love her. I love that she’s honest, direct and quite frankly I love having a working relationship that revolves around asshole jokes.
After the panic of setting up the tent and tables the real feelings set in… WHAT IF NO ONE BUYS A SINGLE THING ALL NIGHT? WHAT IF MY THINGS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH? MY THINGS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. NO ONE WILL WANT THEM. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! I believe that this spiral of thought is referred to as catastrophic thinking and man did my anxiety just have at it.
Slowly people began to come. The more I chatted, the better I felt. The crowd at this event has never disappointed me once. Not a single jerk. No assholes (other than the ones I was selling). Beautiful people, kind people, funny people. People who were happy to talk and listen. People of all ages and different paths. People who also vend, people who are just glad to find others like them.
We have made so many new connections since we started attending this market back in June. New friends with talents of all sorts. It really is nothing short of amazing how much this weird little witchy market has impacted us as a family and I am so grateful. More than once in my life I’ve been lucky to recognize that some people absolutely come into your life for a reason and this is certainly one of them.
As the crowd continued to arrive the traffic picked up. I managed to sneak off once for a walk around the grounds to see the rest of the faire. My heart SOARED seeing how large its grown since its inception. More than doubled in vendors and crowd. In true Amanda fashion, I awkwardly screamed at a stranger. Her outfit was so incredible it fully disabled my mouth filter and I shouted “OH MY GOD YOU LOOK INCREDIBLE” directly at her face. And in true Lunar Faire energy she didn’t miss a beat and yelled back “THANK YOU I LOVE YOUR HEADPEICE”. My people.
By the end of the night we had sold enough to make back our table fee and then some extra (which my children promptly spent on snacks and merch). We got a great idea of changes to make for next time and what people are looking for. I watched my oldest get out of his comfort zone and work the faire and really enjoy himself. My daughter turned out to be an amazing vendor, greeting anyone who walked by and constantly fixing the tables to make sure things were in order and the price tags were visible. My little ones spent some time with us before our family took them home to rest. Devon (whose birthday was THAT DAY) selflessly allowed us to participate and celebrate more with him the next day. My family is pretty incredible, even though we are unconventional to say the least.
We have made the decision to continue to vend after some rest and reflection. It may look different going forward with the kids going back to school and such but it is so great that the sacrifice is more than worth it.
Thank you to our friends and family who support our crazy endeavors. Thank you to faire goers for your support and your company. We can’t wait to see you on 8/22! If you haven’t gotten tickets check here!