We’re back and finally recovered from our foray into the Philly art scene. Thanks SO much to the ladies from Art Star for organizing such a great event. The volunteers and staff from Penn’s Landing were amazingly helpful, and the crowd was super cool. I was grinning like a fool most of the weekend, and of course, Ella made lots of new friends. Poor thing was tuckered out though, she pretty much passed out around 3 in the afternoon, and barely budged after that.

We learned some lessons from Art Star, and here’s a new, quickie “Secret of an Artist’s Business Manager”:

1. Caravan brand tents seem to be the way to go. We know we want to upgrade soon, and this brand has pull-out buttons on the leg (instead of push-in buttons, which can be difficult), and there’s a tent bag with WHEELS and a pull handle. Granted, we have more research to do, but we were definitely lusting after a fellow vendor’s particular setup.

2. To raise our tent, buy 4 heavy-duty buckets, and drill holes through the bottom. Sandbags or other weights can be hidden under the buckets, and the tent can be bolted to the buckets. Our weight plates will still fit on top, which will make a nice, heavy-duty, but not-difficult-to-store-or-carry tent pole solution. We’ll post pics once the set-up is complete.

3. Sunscreen. Put it in your go-to-market box. We had SPF50, and were ever-so-glad to have it.

4. The awesome shelf that Phil built to show his Whiskerbears needs to go. I’m not lying, it cost us 20 minutes in the parking lot trying to fit that into the back of the car. Phil’s got a hatchback Civic, so room is important. Plus, it’s heavy. We’ve got some new collapsible designs in mind.

5. The tall director’s chairs were a total win. I scored them on Amazon for about 1/2 the cost of other models. They were super convenient, and very light weight.

This week’s show is at Quirk, in the parking lot, as part of the Market Umbrella’s First Fridays market. We’ll see you there!