Whimspiration: Artsfest on Walnut Street

Ozarks Friends of the Environment (including but not limited to The Sierra Club, and high school planet-action groups) asked Freecycle(tm) to make a showing at their booth this year at Artsfest on Walnut Street. Well, I volunteered to do some face painting to help draw a crowd to their booth, and the rest is history. *grin*

Okay, okay, it wasn't that cut and dried. See, I've always said that I would never have a booth at Artsfest because of the outrageous prices that are charged for a booth that make it impossible for a "starving artist" to actually get their name out there into the marketplace. The high cost of a 10' square of asphalt in the blazing sun (or pouring rain like last year) not only prevents many local artists from participating, but also shrinks the festival itself and makes Springfield look like it has less artisans than it really does. I won't pay to even go to the event though I live less than 3 blocks away.

But getting in free? To advertise Freecycle(tm) and my own business? Heck yeah I will! So after my anxiety attack on Saturday morning, I went in and showed my stuff. Saturday consisted mainly of me taking the personal possessions of the teenage volunteer painters off of the display tables and tucking them out of sight, standing around, and giving basic instruction when it was needed.

Riding home that evening, I checked out the other areas of the event. There was a slightly larger variety of vendors, both artistic and food-wise, the event itself was much larger, taking up nearly two blocks, and there were many exciting and fun things for kids to do in the kiddie village area, including playing a symphony instrument! Color me seriously surprised.

Sunday on the other hand, was terribly fun. I showed up in the morning with my entire setup and helped set up their booth and the other signage for maximum viewability. They put my table and chairs in the front, and the kids in the back, while they took turns standing out in the sun giving away compact fluorescent light bulbs to passers-by that asked what they were doing and what the booth was about. I loved their call for attention; "would you like to help us save the world?" Simply beautiful, and it got a lot of attention as well. *smile*

Of course with all these decorated ropes growing out of my head, it wasn't long before someone at the booth had the idea that somehow getting a CF bulb in my hair would be not only eye-catching and a conversation-starter, but also really fun for fun's sake. So there I was, working in the sun all day (most popular design Du jour: Spiderman), with a light bulb in my head. I took to saying I was "just chock full of great ideas today", and several interesting conversations ensued about how much work it would take to get a small solar panel set up in my head to actually light the thing up! *chuckle*

It was a lot of fun, and I was invited back again next year, an offer which I gladly accepted.