FORUM.  I have just created a forum for vendors, etc., to post their comments on anything and everything about events.  Best shows, promoters, celebrities and many other topics.  Please participate.  The forum is in it's early stages but I do believe that it is going to be a major source of information for all of us.   So, move your mouse over to this link and tap away and you will be taken away to the Starving Vendors Forum

Saturday, May 16.  Left home at 5:15.  Arrived in Castroville at 6:30.  There were four blocks of booths and on our street, we were set up in quads.  Great.  However I don't think that we got as much foot traffic as the other locations.  No problem though...sales still continue to be low for us and many other vendors.

ALTERNATE NAME.  You can probably call it the Salinas County Police and Fireman's Annual Block Party.  Huge police and sheriff presence throughout the event.  But that's okay though.

PROMOTER'S.  I think that the organizer's/promoter's did an excellent job putting on the show.   We had maybe 80 vendors and perhaps 15-20 food booths.  That's a decent number of vendors for the amount of people that attended.

FOOD.  As for food, I had an Italian, but it wasn't that good.  Been having problems with them lately.  They just can't compare to the one's you get right outside Fenway Park in Boston (something missing).  I have had a couple good Italian Sausages over the years at events and one that comes to mind was in Castro Vally last September.  Absolutely delicious.

WEATHER.  The weather was perfect.  We were facing away from the sun and that was fine with me.  I guess temps were in the 70's today and we had a nice little breeze occasionally.  I kept thinking about those 102 degree temperatures in Oakdale and 93 in Oakhurst.  Uh uh uh.

CROWDS.  I heard that the crowds were a little down today.  Only complaint I have is that many of the porta potties ran out of toilet paper around 3:00 and the show ran until 6:00.  There were people still there, but sales for a lot of us died around 3:00.

Sunday, May 17.  We arrived around 9:30AM.  There was a long line of cars heading down the main street and I saw people lining up for the parade.  I drove down to the entrance on the street that the post office is on and dropped my wife off.  I went back up to the main street and took my next right and I was able to find a parking spot close to that gate.  If I didn't catch that one, I might still be driving around looking for one.

CROWDS. The crowds were somewhat late in arriving, but dramatically picked up during the afternoon.  There were lots of people and I guess a majority hovered around the entertainment areas.  Food lines were pretty long, with several of them being 20-30 people long around mid-afternoon.

SALES. Sales were not up to par for us and I don't think that very many people said that they had good sales.  Economy problem again.

PROMOTER'S. The organizers did a great job putting on the event and they got the people there and I would say that they enjoyed themselves.  I think that it's a pretty decent festival and I expect to return next year.  They had some kind of tribal dancing both days with loud drumming and they had a fairly large car show.

Taking down was a lot easier than it looked like it would be.  Quite organized and it went smoothly and we were in and out quickly.   

WEATHER.  Was great with temps in the low 70's.  A bit breezy at times and was sunny both days.  You could occasionally get cloud cover