Memories of TideFest

This weekend is the 31st annual TideFest festival of fine arts and crafts in Gig Harbor. Every year I pass by the signs advertising this event I am immediately taken back to 1988, the one and only year that I participated in this event. It was one of the most exciting and terrifying events that I have ever been involved in. I was thrilled to be accepted in my first judged art festival, but at the same time was concerned about making enough baskets to have for sale. I quickly got to work and made over 75 pine needle baskets in all shapes and sizes. At that time, all of my baskets were made with Ponderosa pine needles and raffia. I also made a handful of baskets using counted cross stitch designs on the lids. My husband made display shelves and my daughter, who was about 2 years old at the time, helped sort pine needles. I also made pine scented potpourri to sell, too. On the day of the event I had a great time setting up the booth and meeting the other artists around me. However, when the doors opened to the public I was immediately overwhelmed with the amount of people that came by the booth and all of the questions and comments that they had about pine needle baskets. The majority of people were very complimentary and could understand all of the time and effort that went into making each basket. However, some people were not that nice. I have an advertising sales background, but I had the hardest time talking about and selling my baskets in person (still do to this day...thank goodness for blogs). I think I found this so terrifying because my baskets are such a personal creative part of me and I become so attached to each one of them. Thank goodness for my husband who helped me at the booth the first day, because I don't think I would have survived without him. The best part about TideFest was meeting all of the artists and trading our arts and crafts at the end of the show. We still enjoy a cedar chair and several pieces of art to this day. Another great part is that the high school students take really good care of the artists by bringing them cookies and beverages and watching artists booths to give them a break. I have gone to TideFest many times since 1988, but I still get butterflies in my stomach while walking around the hallways and gyms amongst the wonderful arts and crafts. Enjoy!