Just Gotta Walk Around - The Oregon Country Fair

The Twelfth House Art and Debbie Krell booth at Oregon Country Fair.

It was a lovely crowd. I didn't hear anyone balk at my prices, in fact, a number of people told me I should raise them. It was nice to be in a place where hand-made art was the norm rather than the exception, a breath of fresh air after hearing so often that my work was over-valued compared to my mass-produced competitors.

The setup begins! Several jewelry boards are propped up on a table. The signs for the booth are draped over the tree, an orange suitcase, the end of the table.

A stilt-walker uses the tree as a resting spot, while the chaos of setup is all around us.

I flew in with suitcase, a duffle bag, and a backpack. As a one year only booth, I was required to share with someone. I thought that maybe the close, homey space next to the kiosk would lend itself well to a tarot reader, but after a few inquiries fell through, I decided on a tie-dye artist whom had posted amazing work online. So glad I did. I could not have brought enough fabric to make the space look full.

U.V. room with tie-dyes by Debbie Krell.

The tie-dye artist in question, Debbie Krell, did not disappoint! She brought beautiful tapestries, and constructed a blackroom to show off her UV-reactive tie-dyes. I really think we were an interesting little booth for being relative newcomers, Debbie just logging in her 5th year vending, and me on my first.

My spread of jewelry, part-way through the weekend.

Throughout the weekend, I kept being reminded of what a big deal it was to have gotten a booth. One of a pair of older women quipped, upon seeing my stuff, “How'd you get your shit in here?” to which I just had to say, “I applied?” I did seem to be the only wire-wrapper in the fair, though the art was amply-represented in the satellite parties. Perhaps I just filled a niche. Still, I definitely got a lot of attention for my bigger work. I had people bowing to my “fancy” necklace board.
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Using the tree as a bench was fun.

I am aware of my tendency to miss moments by being too in my head, but after two months of preparation I was not going to let myself make that mistake. I basked. I got to be a silly little character in my very own booth, that I had gotten by presenting my own art, and I made sure to love every second of it. I put my little anvil on the nearly-flat tree, set my silver coils in the roots. I leaned on it to talk to customers. I chose my craft because it was one I could perform anywhere, so I made several different pendants while hanging out on that tree, and sold every one I made. I truly enjoyed being the master of my own dominion, and made deals and trades with impunity. I adore being able to play with the crowd with my own boundaries rather than my employers (as much as I love all the people I work with) and had fun seeing what silly energy the crowd brought.

My booth-mates brought lights to string on the tree at night, and as I stood in my booth after hours, with the workers streaming by, people would say, “Thank you to whoever put these lights here!” When I was turning them on, I heard a guy say, “The lord's work.”

I had heard about the after-hours party, that there would at least be bands playing and art all around. To be honest, I didn't quite believe it. It's always the joke at ren fairs that when patrons ask where the after hours party is, and there generally isn't one. We're tired, we just dealt with thousands of people, and we've got other days in the week to party. Why would we waste energy after a long work day?

This is clearly an attitude born of having to sustain a large event over the course of eight weeks, and the longer grind of making it a year-long full-time job. For five days? This place didn't sleep.

I tried to get a healthy mix of tagging along with my booth-mates and aimless wandering. I wanted to get lost. Everywhere I turned, I would run into the best art I've ever seen in my life. The last time I'd been so consistently impressed had literally been Broadway. Wandering along a path one night, I encountered a troop of UV reactive sea creatures dancing. I ended up at a party somewhere in the off-site campgrounds and witnessed a burlesque show and a very classic but fun magic show. There was some amazing belly-dancing at a stage that I wandered upon once and never again. I witnessed several different bands I was too overwhelmed to really catch the names of, but still enjoyed wiggling to. At one point I found myself on a barefoot padded dance floor with EDM being produced from live instruments being fed through a machine and had a transcendent experience feeling the tension fall from my body, despite my lack of rest.

The path into the woods where we slept.

I found so many nice little niches that maybe in another state of mind, I might've crawled into and rested, but I found it almost impossible to rest. In fact, I barely slept. One night I went back to my tent at around 1am, trying to rest my feet at least, and could hear three different conflicting stages.

On the last night, I opted to rest my legs, and only went as far from my booth as I needed to get food. I sat in my kiosk, eating my leftovers, smoking the last of my weed, and watching the crowd drift by under the twinkling lights of the tree. There was a continuous bluegrass jam happening about two booths down, only interrupted once by one of the best marching bands I had seen all show, some unidentifiable woodwind going berserk when the band paused for it to solo. Yes, it's exhausting, but truly the best party I've ever experienced and a magical place that I'm proud to have been a part of.

All and all, I made almost exactly the amount of money I was expecting, falling a bit short of my stretch goal. I was working almost from the moment I knew I had been approved for a One Year Only booth to the very end and through the whole show, two whole months. I don't think I could have done better with the time I had, but I can see room to grow. While I'm not guaranteed a booth next year, I'll still prepare for it and hope for the best. I'm honored and excited to have been a part of this, and I plan to keep on getting cooler, sillier, more elaborate. This year I made ripples. Next year I want to be truly mind-bending

Me flashing a peace sign, wearing one of Debbie’s shirts, my Twelfth House White Rabbit sign behind me.

Further and further, indeed.

Our booth nestled under the Love Love Love tree.

Me goofing around in a mirror on the first day. I’m flashing a peace sign, wearing a dark blue floral dress with a hip pouch and black duster. My hair is down. I’m surrounded by tie-dye. I feel delirious from lack of sleep and anticipation.