Fall Festival

Well, our neighborhood's Fall Festival was rather different this year than it's been in previous years.  We were out of town last year and missed it, so this year was a bit of a shock to us.   When we've gone in the past, we've enjoyed some simple Fall fun - -a giant slide, some pumpkin painting, some music, and maybe a little rock-climbing.

THIS year we found that it had grown in many ways -- now complete with Ferris wheel, some spinning rides, huge blow-ups, and around 150 vendors.

  So for us, as first-time vendors, we had some ups and downs.

The "up's:"

1. All the excitement of setting up our own display:

2. Having a mini Wrays-selling-Wingdingers reunion:

3 of the originals, with some offspring

3. Having several friends come by to help out:

4. Riding some rides:

5. And literally going way "UP":

Actually, Pete, in the green car near the top, said, "I hate this."

The "down's"

1. Waking up to a weather forecast that called for thunderstorms

2. Realizing that most people at the festival were there for the free rides -- not to buy much

3. Hearing that the crowd was much smaller than usual.... and not selling as many Wingdingers as we had hoped.

Still, overall it was a good learning experience -- and of course the kids had a blast.

Now to figure out what to do with all our extra inventory....