The Deluge

Yesterday we unloaded the van and carted all the usual bits and pieces to the booth site and set things up. The weather was clear, sunny, but crisp. Today was the first day of the show, and the weather definitely did not want to cooperate. Sunny when we arrived in the morning, but clouds and rain, rain, rain... for much of the day.

Our booth space was outside the building, on a walkway that's covered by a large metal awning-like structure. The back of the booth itself (a canopy with peaked roof and full-height side walls of fabric) extended about 4 feet out from under the awning. The amount of rain that came down overnight was sufficient to fill a sagging area of our roof with about 2 gallons of water, some of which had leaked into the booth, and filled several of DH's bowls with water. The process of persuading the remaining water to drain off the roof onto the concrete walkway managed to dump a significant quantity of said liquid onto the interior of the booth, wetting the floor thoroughly and soaking the seat of one of our chairs.

And as if overnight precipitation wasn't enough, it rained again much of the day. Needless to say, a lot of residents of Sunny Southern California are deterred by rain, so the number of shoppers was less than last year, and many of them were too busy dodging rain on their way to the interior of the hall to stop and shop with us. All in all, we had some sales, but are counting on a better turnout tomorrow. Fingers crossed for sunshine, or at least a dry day!