Blog

2014 ACC St Paul - The Drive Home

By the time I got cleaned up, ate breakfast, packed up, and loaded my van it was time to check out.  I then filled Ody with Shell gas and headed out.  I had a free lunch waiting for me in Lacrosse.  Garmin took me from St Paul across the Mississippi River and down the Wiscinsin side of the river road.  Then back across the Mississippi River to Red Wing, MN.  Then down the Minnesota side of the river to cross back into Wisconsin at La Crosse.

2014 ACC St Paul - Sunday and Load Out

The show started later and ended earlier than previous days.  This is an attribute of Sunday as loadout happens today.  What took two days to set up has to be cleared in just five hours.  

2014 ACC St Paul - Saturday

More attendance than Friday and in waves meaning busy periods and slow periods.  Most artists I talked with admitted passing their breakeven point with sales.  That goes for me as well making this my highest selling St Paul show in the four years I have been doing it.  And there is one more day to go.

2014 ACC St Paul - Saturday

More attendance than Friday and in waves meaning busy periods and slow periods.  Most artists I talked with admitted passing their breakeven point with sales.  That goes for me as well making this my highest selling St Paul show in the four years i have been doing it.  And there is one more day to go.

2014 ACC St Paul - Friday

The day started with this view of Tanner Lake.

This is a 10 hour day on concrete.  The attendance was average and arrived in three waves during the day.  The periods between were slow.  Some artists were selling others were not.  Optimism appeared high as artists stayed in their booths.  

2014 ACC St Paul - Friday

The day started with this view of Tanner Lake.

This is a 10 hour day on concrete.  The attendance was average and arrived in three waves during the day.  The periods between were slow.  Some artists were selling others were not.  Optimism appeared high as artists stayed in their booths.  

2014 ACC St Paul - Preview party

The forgotten drape was delivered by FEDEX at 9:00AM.  I headed into the show about 11:00AM to complete the setup of my booth.  It looks better now.

2014 ACC St Paul- The Trip

Todays trip started at 6:19AM.  The day quickly became sunny and warm.  Ody whizzed along without a care in the world.

I am always impressed with the Wisconsin River and crosssing the Mississippi River.  I shot some video of both along with the usual remnants of snow this trip always displays as one approaches the Mississippi.  Included in the video is some of the St Paul skyline.  For some reason Garman took me in the back way along the river.

2014 ACC St Paul

I am loaded and ready to drive up to St Paul to do this show.  This will be my fourth year in a row.  I have been loyal to this show and hope it remembers that.

Ody is ready to hit the road with its fresh wash and full tank.  All that nasty winter dirt and salt are gone.  Only the shine remains.  Once again I managed to get all my inventory and booth parts fitted in.  It is like one of those puzzle boxes.

My PM50 Gets Shelixied.

For the last year a Byrd Shelix cutter head rested on a shelf waiting to be installed into my restored Powermatic PM50 jointer.  This head is the real deal.  As I thought about installing it during the year I started to become intimidated by it.  It is a piece of precision art.