Kalamazoo 2025: A Very Busy Saturday

Saturday was BUSY. Attendance at the show was high and boy howdy, the aisles were crowded with people who'd come to time travel with us. Luckily I had had so much help and was prepared to go when the doors opened at 9:00.

Ready to Go!

The sign I had made last summer worked fine at an indoor show, too.

Remnants from the things I have sewn always sell first - there are sewists who make it a point to shop my booth first so they can get them because I sell out quickly. The first lady to get to me took over half of them leaving only a small group for the next person.

Toques! Made by my friend, Frannie (I taught both of her kids when we lived in Illinois), she has a new job and won't be able to make any more for me, at least not for the foreseeable future. That's too bad - her toques are really high quality both in the wool she uses and in her knitting. I get compliments all the time on them.

18th century working class ladies almost always had a needle and thread on their person. Pin pillows hung on a ribbon from their apron strings ensured that those were always available.

The blackened beeswax ornaments. There is always someone, both adult and child, who thinks they are cookies to eat!

The sleeve buttons proved very popular. It was a last minute decision to make and bring them, and I am pleased with how well they were received. Even now at home I've already gotten a request for a pair that I will pack up and send tomorrow.

The biggest seller of all - maple cakes! And they sold out before noon on Sunday. I did get two for me - one I'd accidentally touched as I was serving someone, so I set it aside, and the other I dropped and it bounced across the table. Otherwise, I would not have had a single maple cake.

The People

Leslie and me just before the show opened on Saturday.

My friend Marge came over to bring me a donut and stopped and laughed when she saw me.

We'd inadvertently twinned! Of course we had to take a photo of that. 

Jamie Oxendine of the Lumbee Nation in North Carolina. Isn't he impressive? That's hand beading and stitching all over his clothing and he is wearing wampum garters (also handmade.)

Next up is my long-time friend, Brandon.

He started his own 18th century trading company, Eagle Talon Traders, when he was only 18 and it is still in business and highly successful and respected thirty years later! If I need wool, Brandon is who I call. 

This lady got a lot of attention as she walked around. She wasn't a participant, but there are lots of people who are just there to see the show who come dressed in period clothing. (Which is awesome and very welcomed by the show.) 

She was actually there on behalf of the Howell Opera House, a historic building in Howell, Michigan and was using her clothing to generate interest in preserving it. 

Her headdress represents the chandeliers, the petticoat the grand curtains, etc. What a clever idea! And while not exactly the purpose of the event, in a way, it was - she was trying to preserve a part of our past just as everyone else was! Pretty cool in my book!

(There are always a few unusual outfits at living history events. I liked hers MUCH better than the two teenage boys who were walking around in outfits that were smeared with fake blood. Who knows what they were representing.)

This lady loved Frannie's toques and this choice fit her very well.

Leslie doing an interview with the local news.

Once again, since Gretchen was on staff, we had to stay after the 5:00 closing. Everyone, vendors included, had to leave the building, and then the place needed to be walked to ensure no stragglers were left. Security then came in to take over and we could leave. 

Gretchen and I stopped at Wendy's and grabbed dinner, then went back to our rooms in the hotel.

I called and talked to Craig and then had crashed into bed by 8:00. Sunday's wake up call was better than Saturday's but Gretchen and I needed to be back at the Expo Center by 7:15 AM. Plus, we had to pack up and check out of our rooms the next morning. Having said that, Sunday is never as busy as Saturday, and I knew it would not be as hectic as this day had been.

Exhausted, yes,  but grateful for a good day!