Opening Day

Yesterday was opening day for The Market at Westgate and what an opening day it was. We had put the word out about the market and the response was big. A lot of people said they were going to come see us, most of them did. That and all the advertising that the mall did, we had an excellent day. As you can see from the picture we loaded up, that was just one side of our area.

 

 

  This picture is the view from the other side. Our spot is a prime location, we are the first vender you see when you enter the market area. With all growing pains of the a new venture we where a little cramped but it was workable. The bosses of the market feel the set up needs to be tweaked. Starting next week we will be set up right in front of the doors. This means that when you enter the mall at the main entrance, we will be the first thing you see. This not only gives us a super prime-location it also gives us more room. So if you came by to see us yesterday, next week we will be right in the front as you walk into the mall.

As promised I did take my loom and it will be there next week as well. Since I was not able to get it set up before opening day. I decided to take and set it up there. My thought was, the norm with weaving demo’s is the loom is set up and you just see the person weaving. You never see the process of setting the loom up so you can weave a piece. I changed that yesterday by setting up the loom there. The response was a good one, of course every one said they would never have the patience to do it. (I think if you just relaxed everyone could at least try it.)

I even had a couple of people very interest in what I was doing. To the point they where asking me things like how much is my loom (not for sale), where can they get one. Even though I was demonstrating, how easy is it to use, questions like that. Some other people wanted to buy my ribbon winning pieces (again not for sale). Now if i sell my ribbon winning pieces how will I show of my ribbons. (For you smarty's out there, yes I know I have to make more items for competition, to get more ribbons so I can sell the ribbon winners, not going to happen, the selling part any way.) 

As with every opening of a new business you have visits from local papers, radio celebrities, congress people and the like. We had two very special visitors, WLEV Scott and Cindy Morning Show hands out cupcakes every Wednesday from Warm Sugar bakery in Hellertown, PA. This week the market was the lucky winner. So Scott and Cindy where around handing out cupcakes to the vendors and boy are they really  good cupcakes. That was a fun surprise and a real treat for everyone.

The second visit was from Congressman Charlie Dent who was walking around talking with vendors and learning what we all where selling. The local papers where there as well. I don’t know if I made the paper but maybe. I will have to check that out and get back to you on that.

So as you can see we had a very exciting day and are looking for more in the future. If you are ever in the area on a Wednesday don’t forget to stop by and say Hi.

The Market at Westgate

I have some exciting news, starting Wednesday November 9th Ed and I will be selling at the Market at Westgate. The Market is located inside the Westgate Mall, in Bethlehem, PA. This is a bran new venture for the mall and both Ed and myself are excited to be one of there anchor vendors.

The market is a year round farmers market, that will have all you find at a farmers market. Ed and I will be selling produce of course, as described by FARE Farming (which is Ed’s blog). With winter coming upon us and fall already here we are not able to sell local produce. So we will have the freshest produce and possible (when available) organic produce. To this I added this season dried herbs, sorry it was to wet for me to harvest my own this year. So the herbs are from all around the world, they are wild crafted and some are organic as well. The herb inventory starts at allspice and ends with vanilla, and every thing in between except mint. (Sorry I can’t get my hands on just plain ordinary mint.)

Something that I am adding to the stock to be revealed at the Market is dry goods. What do I mean, let me tell you. Flours, sugars, sweeteners, dried bean and the like. To start I’m only going to have the basics and ask for your input to what you would like me to carry.

A couple of other things I am working on to carry is teas and maybe fair trade coffees. Ed and I are also working on a line of hand made soap, (more about that later). The teas we are working to get pretty quickly the other items won’t be available until mid -  winter, early spring.

The final thing will of course be fiber art Items. I'm saying fiber art because it will be more then just woven items. I would love to say that I will have pieces for sale on opening day, alas I will not. For reasons that are just a bit frustrating, but I will be demonstrating different forms of the fiber arts on a weekly bases (with a break here and there). Starting with weaving, so I will have my loom with me. As the market gets going I will be adding fiber items to sell. Yes I will announce it when that happens.

If you would like to keep up with all that we will be carrying at the market and come spring at what locations we will be at. Just look to the right of your screen above the followers. You will see a news letter sign up. This is a weekly news letter from the Two Country Gentlemen (Ed and I). This news letter will have all the latest info on what we will be selling, where we will be (when we hit that season again), recipes and more. So if this sounds interesting to you, please feel free to sign up and let your friends know as well.

If you are ever in the area or in Bethlehem to be more specific. On Wednesdays between noon and seven pm.  Stop by the mall and say hi.