The last two Saturdays have found us in two beautiful towns here in Western New York.
Angelica, a small historical town, close to our own hometown, has to be one of my favorite places to have an event. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it has a lovely feel to it; old historic buildings, a beautiful village green, with tree lined sidewalks surrounded by lovely buildings. Last Saturday was the Angelica Lavender Festival and what a great time we had. We set our pop up out on the village green and had a lovely day meeting new and old friends alike. Our youngest two occupied themselves playing on the playground and flying, newly purchased, foam airplanes around the green. My eldest daughter and I had a blast introducing people to the many benefits of goat milk skin care products, and generally chatting with everyone who stopped by to see what we were all about.
This past Saturday found us in another great place, Perry, NY. This is our second year being a part of the Farmers' Market and this particular Saturday it coincided with the annual Chalk Art Festival. What a great day. The sun was shining, the local vendors were lining the street with homegrown produce, locally produced honey, farm raised meats, beautiful flowers, and so much more. The local coffee company were all set up and provided customers with freshly brewed coffee, a small seating area causing people to pause, take a seat, and enjoy all the comings and goings on this beautiful day. A local musician was playing, and the mood was just generally.... great.
I couldn't quite put my finger on why these two days had impacted me so much.... was it the repeat customers who were pleased to see us and stopped to chat and shop? From a business perspective was it the successful days we had? No, let me let you into a little secret; all of those things are great, but that wasn't it. It dawned on me, as the day came to an end, and we packed up and drove home, that wasn't what made these two days so very special.
I spent two very beautiful days in two lovely spots watching what I haven't been able to watch in over two years. I watched people, families, out having fun, I watched children walk hand in hand with parents, grandparents, care givers. I watched smiles on faces; people enjoying local delights. I watched what once had been normal and an everyday occurrence, until it got stopped in its tracks and life became something very different.
These past two weekends have warmed my heart. What a privilege to get to chat to so many great people, to see the joy in people's faces as they find some level of normality again.
Thank you to everyone who made these two days what they were. Thank you for stopping to say 'hi'. Thank you for all of your encouraging words as we have ventured into this family run business these past few years.
Vendors all set up just before opening and things got busy...
Part of our product stand..
One of our best sellers. If you like Lilac, this is definitely for you....
