Not that I broke even, but I had a lot of fun, and there's good news on the horizion for Barataria being even better next year. Seeing as this was the first year of the festival, no vendor worth their salt was actually expecting to make a lot of money, but rather, we put on a good showing, so that the attendees would be excited about it and tell all their friends. Of course, that makes for a bigger event in future years, more people coming, and bigger profits for the vendors.
Working festivals for fun and profit: All it takes is a little patience! *grin*
But I digress... The costumes of the players (pirate and faerie courts) were simply breathtaking, the events and performers were professional and fun, and all ages attended and had an absolute blast. Barataria would have been hard pressed to do better as a first year faire than they did, and that's saying a lot! I've seen established events that weren't anywhere near the quality that Barataria was in it's first year.
The tale of how Barataria, the mythical aisle of the pirate king, Captain Black, came to be moved by the faeries into the current day is well told in numerous "journal entries" by the various characters of the faire, and is a great read, even if it was not associated with such a beautifully put-together event. You can find the tale on the Barataria website.
I already have a few of the unseelie court in love with my Vita-FizZ. It was really amusing that they gave my candy yet another nickname "crushed baby Seelie in a tube". I'll tell ya, they all played their parts well, stayed in character, and were creative to boot! *smile* In the heat of the day, I was fanning people on my break, and I fanned the fire faerie, another of the unseelie, and she thanked me by saying something along the lines of "oh that's lovely, I just might not kill you" *chuckle* Simply beautifully done, really, on all counts.
To see some of what I am talking about, photos, videos, and commentary on the first year, check out Barataria Pirate and Fairy Faire on Facebook.
, toddler toys like the phonics-self-teaching line that starts with the 
, complete educational systems 
, expandable school aides such as the 
for lower grades, and the 
for upper grade school, LeapFrog products are the best I've ever seen. Heck, they even have the 
for middle and high school! And they're constantly coming out with new neat little toys, for our increasingly tech-savvy children, like the new 
. We actually have, or have had, most of the products I mentioned above, and that's really saying something, coming from this picky homeschooling mom! You know the toy is great when you sneak off to play with it when the kids aren't looking! *sheepish grin* My family loves LeapFrog for all that they do, and how they 
