This is the first year for this festival and it's only a one-day show.  Never received confirmation of my space and they did not answer my email. Hope that is not a bad omen or just a 'rookie' mistake.  Showers are expected during the latter part of the afternoon.  Weird weather for this time of year.

 

Do you have anything to say?  comments@starvingvendors.com   If you did the San Juan Bautista Rib Cook-off, I'd like to hear what you have to say.  Email me or post on the forum.

 

Saturday, May 22.

 

We left Hayward around 5:15 and arrived at downtown Lincoln around 7:10.  We took Highway 65 from I-80 and drove past Thunder Valley Casino without stopping and as fast as we could.  I saw one sign in Lincoln saying that the Italian Festival was downtown, but I had difficulties locating where exactly it was it.  No obvious signs with big arrows.  I drove past the area and continued down Highway 65.  I turned around and headed back and was able to spot a canopy on a side street and drove over there and managed to check-in.  I guess there were about 1/3 of the vendor's setting up on the right hand side of the street and there were numerous food vendor's unloading their stuff.  It was a bit difficult driving down to my space and I parked to the right of a big white truck unloading their food stuff.

 

WE BEGAN UNLOADING THE VAN while placing our sacks on the grass behind our space while working our way to the canopy.  I glanced at the chalk marks on the ground and I could figure out that we did not have 10-feet.  I removed the canopy and my wife and I began setting it up.  We positioned it and found us about half a foot short.  This meant that somebody was going to get squeezed.  That is why I get to my space early.  I began unloading my grids and positioning them around my canopy.  I stepped over to the couple three spaces down from me and I looked at the markings on the ground.  Their space was about a foot short.  So, that meant that they had around 18 1/2 feet left over for the two canopies in the middle.  Somebody is going to get squeezed.

 

NOW TELL ME SOMETHING.  How hard can it be to take a tape measure and mark off spaces in 10-foot increments on the street.  I didn't go further down the street to look, but in my area, they screwed up terribly.

 

After we had unloaded everything, I drove the van away and parked.  When I came back the sprinklers were on and water was being sprayed on the grass between the sidewalk and the building.  Also, water was accumulating at the front of the driveway and looked like we were going to have a flood.  I walked away for a couple minute and when I came back three more sprinklers had come on and this time they were spraying in our direction.  All our merchandise on the grass was getting wet.  It was insane.  I felt like kicking the sprinkler's but the water would then be gushing onto the ground nonetheless.  I grabbed a couple of our plastic sacks and rushed into the sprinkler's and covered them up one by one, getting wet in the process.  I was screaming bloody murder.  I was pissed.  I had a lot of bags that got wet.  Boy, was I pissed.  Meanwhile, one of the guys working the show came over and we began looking for the controls and he was able to find them in back of the house as this place was some kind of newspaper.  What a way to start the day.  This show had 'doozie' written all over it.

 

WHY ME?  Can't understand why this stuff happens to me.  Why do I end up being placed in front of a business who's sprinklers go off?  If they have been having this show for a number of year's on this street, I tend to believe that this thing with the sprinkler's has happened in the past.  Perhaps many times.  Uncalled for.  Should I do this show again next year and see if they go off again?  Naw.  I really do not think so.

 

I WALKED OVER TO MY NEIGHBOR three spaces down and discussed what to do about the eventual open space between us.  When one of the vendor's showed up around 8:30 she explained to them that they should set up in the middle of the two spaces enabling all three of us to have and extra side open.  Excellente!!!  Worked fine.  Don't know what happened to the vendor that got squeezed.  He/she probably never knew because they gave out the numbers at the check-in area.

 

THINGS STARTED OFF VERY VERY SLOW and sales were sporadic throughout the day.  People just not buying.  It seemed like there were a lot of people but after you think about it you realize that this show was only one block long.  People mostly congregated up in the area around the intersection where there was a car show.  They trickle down to the food vendor's and some of them just grabbed some food and departed.  There were quite a few people selling food.  I'd guess at least 20, which is a hell of a lot for a show this small.  Only Italian food was one guy selling chicken parmigiana sandwiches.  Nobody selling anything Italian and no Italian music.  At least I didn't see nor hear.  Show was Italian in name only.

 

TWO KIDS maybe around 13-14 year's old come over to my booth and the heavier one starts to grab one of my wooden alligator's.  His friend tells him 'don't play with that, you might break it.'  I look up. I was surprised. "That's good advice.  Listen to your friend.  He gives you good advice.  Make sure you follow him and your never going to get in trouble." They laughed. I was serious.  That kid must get straight-A's in school and is going to grow up to be successful.

 

GUY AND HIS LADY FRIEND came into the booth.  The lady put on one of my hats and I happened to be holding one of my larger hats in my hand and I was standing next to them.  Suddenly I saw the guy raise up his camera and I quickly shoved the hat I was holding in front of her face.  "No picture's please."  Boy, was he shocked.  I held the hat there until he put his camera away.  Every show, there's always somebody who tries to take pictures.  No, uh uh.

 

THE FOOD.  There had to be over 20 food booths.  The prices for food was a lot less than what I had seen in Castroville the weekend before.  I saw an Italian Sausage going for $4.00 while I had paid $8.00 for one before.  Good price.  I spotted a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich for $6.00.  Not too bad.  So I paid the money and the lady gave me a 'ticket' with the number 69 on it.  I waited in a group of 5-6 other people.  They called a couple numbers below mine and then suddenly a 72 pops up.  74.  I looked at the lady who was giving out the orders. "Yo, what happened to my cheesesteak?  I watched her talk some mumbo-jumbo to guy cooking in the back.  I heard him say that he missed it and he said it'll be right up.  I waited.  The guy told me I could grab a soda from the ice chest.  I rushed over and pulled out an icy coke and retreated back to my space in line.  I waited.  Waited.  Waited.  "You're going to love it." said the guy.  Finally he was done and handed it to the lady who in turned gave it to me.  Had quite a bit of meat on it and there was a little bit of pepper's and onions.  I then walked back to my booth and began to eat.  As I sat there, I had quite a few customer's that I had to take care of.  One after another in between my bites of the PCS.  There was quite a bit of meat on the sandwich but it wasn't all that great.  Just another festival Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.   Most of them I will only describe as just okay, decent, pretty darn bad.  This one fell in the 'just okay' and dry categories.  I've tasted worse.  I've tasted better. 

 

THE DAY JUST DRAGGED on and on and on and on.  A sale here, a sale there.  I gave people deals left and right throughout the day as I struggled to make some money in this one.  It was rather cool inside the booth and my wife had to run back and forth to our van which was sitting over in a parking lot some 100 feet away.  Very warm inside there.  They had forecast rain for later in the day and we managed to go through the entire show without getting a drop.  The weather has been unseasonably cool all over the place and we have been getting rain on occasion.  I know that temps could have been up around 100 here but luckily, it was just in the high 60s-low 70s.  Great weather for a show.

 

THEY JUST DON'T GO INSIDE.  Ever wonder why a lot of these people do not go inside to look at things.  They stay outside.  That's why the vendor's always have their best selling, money-making products on a table in the front of their booths.  We had a table up front and another running down the middle of our space, perpendicular to the other one.  We also place a lot of our merchandise inside on our grids.  I think that only five people came inside to look.

 

WE BEGAN PACKING AROUND 4:00 and left at 5:45.  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be coming in to load up.  As we were heading home, the clouds were building up ad we hit some rain along the way.  I kept watching the clouds as they became darker and darker off in the distance.