The Third Market

We did our third market this week, and there were a couple of factors working against us. First off, Dartmouth is in transition, meaning that the students have all left and the Summer crowd has yet to establish itself, so the crowds were thin. The second thing was the weather, which has been just crazy lately. Then again, now that I think back on it, the current weather is not unheard of. I recall Summers in the past where it has just rained all the time. Also, using the Balloon Festival as a reference, I remember one year when it rained the entire weekend, putting a damper on the festivities.

Either way, this year the rain has been unrelenting, and it has been cool. On market day, we finally got a break and the sun came out, but at several points during the day, the clouds rolled in and it rained. Looking at the bright side, the market started out beautifully, and we were able to set up with nice weather. Also, the rains only lasted for a few minutes, and then it cleared up, so I can’t complain, but still manage to find a way to.

Business went okay, and it’s nice to see the same customers showing up to eat the dumplings. I appreciate this aspect of doing the market, building up a loyal clientele who value your efforts, and the social aspect of getting to know the other vendors is nice, as well. The work is hard, and as I sit here writing this, I know I have to get back to work and start making dumplings for next week, but at least for the moment, I can bask in the satisfaction of knowing we survived one more week. When you’re doing the FM, this knowledge is huge.

Quick side note - we had an AM citing, but I noticed that she walked right past us and didn’t stop to chat, which is unusual for someone as chatty as she. This could be interpreted in a number of ways, none of which I’ll go into at the moment.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Roger Kirby for the pic.