The Evolution of an Art Show Booth

This weekend I had two art shows. First, I left Grand Marais early Friday morning. We received our first measurable snow of the season on Thursday evening. Although there were only a couple of inches, the roads were very icy. In fact, the school in Grand Marais was closed Friday due to the icy roads.

For those of you blog followers who do not live in Michigan, in order to drive down state from Grand Marais, you first have to work your way down to US2. This highway follows the southern shore of the Upper Peninsula along the north shore of Lake Michigan. Here is a shot I took from the car around ten miles west of the Mackinaw Bridge. In the background you can see the far shore of the lower peninsula.

The bridge is located around 110 miles from Grand Marais.  There is a toll booth on the north side for both directions of traffic.  It costs $3.50 for a two-axle vehicle to drive over five-mile long suspension bridge.

The first show was in East Grand Rapids.  I drove to Grand Rapids and picked up my friend, Jill, who offered to help me with set-up.  Grand Rapids is around 380 miles from Grand Marais.   The show is held at the East Grand Rapids High School.  The blue chair in the middle of the picture is the middle of my 10 foot by 10 foot booth.  One nice thing about this show is that student council members help you carry everything from the car to your booth and back again at the end of the show.

Here is all the stuff for my booth, other than the tables and grid walls.

The first thing that goes up is the grid wall.

Next the tables.....

Then you cover the tables.  Here is a shot of Jill opening up the suitcase that holds all of the agate windows.

The next thing I do is hook up all of the electrical.

Finally you put out all of the other product.

Then you are ready for business.