The Fall Heritage Festial & Old Timers Day

This past weekend was my 40th birthday and to celebrate I got to choose where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. So I chose to spend four day in the Pigeon Forge area. On one of those days I wanted to go to the Fall Heritage Festival & Old Timers Day in Townsend. I was so excited. I haven't been to a arts and crafts festival in many years. I have been thinking about going to a few with my own creations, so I was anxious to check out what everyone else is selling.

We decided to attend the festival on Friday. The skies were heavy with clouds and threatening some rain. We arrived about 11am, and the parking was already congested. The setup was in the fields in front and back of the Townsend visitors center. A few vendors were in front, but it was mostly people exhibiting how-to sessions, such as basket weaving, bee keeping, wool spinning, etc. The porch around the visitors center was covered with blue grass musicians.

Around the back were most of the arts and craft exhibitors. I was a little disappointed as came around the building because there were only 4 rows with back to back exhibitors and 6 exhibitor deep, equalling 48 exhibitors. I thought the show would be a lot larger than this.

As I made my way to the first row, I was pleasantly surprised with a large display of rusty yard stakes. They had everything from Halloween and Christmas to hummingbirds and dogs. I found this cute Dachshund stake. For only $10, I had to have it.

I've got to re-pot my Angel-winged Begonia, so it will have to hang out until I do. But doesn't it look cute?

My high from my Dachshund stake purchase was short lived. As I made my way down the rows. I realized that this festival had nothing I was really interested in and there were a lot of similar items. I came across 1-2 jewelry vendors per row and at least 1 photography booth per row. All the photos were similar to with lots of black bears.

As I came around the corner on the last row, there was a booth with cute folk art dolls and decorations. She had a lot of cats. I purchase this cute little calico with "free kitten" sign for one of my primitive cabinets. It is made out of fabric, in which she painted, making this adorable kitty.

Front view.

Back view.

I chose this old barn wood cabinet to display it in...can you see it?

How about now?

Now?

Yes, there's that cute kitty...next to my old rusty mug.

I'm glad with my two purchases, but I was hoping to see more and a larger variety of arts and crafts at this festival. I have considered participating in this festival. Now I'm not sure. There were a lot of people attending the festival, but I'm not sure if they were buying or not. I need some advice...is it better to participate in festivals where you have some competition or no competition? There was no one there selling pet items or purses. Only one other person was selling sewn item and that was baby items such as blankets, bibs, and shirts. Any advice would be appreciated. I have been contemplating attending festivals for some time now, but I will have to invest in a tent, tables, displays, decorations, etc., so I'm kinda apprehensive about it. It does sound like fun, with being able to meet all kinds of people and sell my creations.