So I did Corks&Hops yesterday.
Ususally it's just downtown but I was in top town...as the ONLY vendor...still not sure if I liked that, I mean I got all the attention instead of being lost in the swarm of vendors, but it also meant some didn't pay attention because I was the only one. Also more people visited dowtown than top town. Oh well.....did I enjoy it? Yes.
I ended up in front of My Favorite Things but here's where God's like....I got you....and btw you live in a small town, so I'll make that evident.
My Favorite Things is owned my Michelle's parents!
And the had a pour station there so Adam was the pour station beer guru so we got to chat with him too.
Then one of the event hosts was Lewis who owns the store one up from My Fav Things, and Lewis is the amateur geologist who came to co-op.
So I also was supposed to be confined to an 8x3 space, very stringent rules but the head event host (not Lewis) never made it up to my booth. 8x3 was too crowded so I got to spread out on the windowsill of My Fav Things which was visually/spatially better.
I sold no paintings (but elicited looks, interest, conversation) and 6 books. Ok, most were to people who said they'd buy one, but two were newbies.
I gave away bookmarks with a book excerpt so a few were like, oh i bet so and so would like your book. Others just took the bookmark cause the bookmarks were free and the people were drunk.
I found Christians. Mostly, the crowd was hipster millenials and baby boomer humanists. Really. But I found the Christians or they found me. Sure, my book says God on the back cover, but it was as if those who were Christian were more likely to pick up the book before even knowing it mentioned God. Strangers gave me hugs and blessings.
Oh I also confused a few locals with the I-am-not-the-bartender-Gretchen-Davis issue. Although the former owner of the bear claw and i now both hope Gretchen's daughter will bring her to Christ.
I spoke to one millennial who was like, whoa, man, anti-Christian. You could feel it, once he saw it was religious his "vibe" changed. I didn't let it phase me and explained God is not hell and damnation but instead grace and love. Did he buy the book, or convert right there? Of course not. He looked frightened and walked away but hey...I spoke up for God.
Jenny came. Teresa came and walked all that way! Dan and Cindy and a few others from church came.
It was fun but I realized...
I was there not to sell books or paintings...I was there to let His light shine!
As we packed up, Debbye from co op showed up with Adam's kids and then I went to dinner and ended up chatting/dining with Tania. So it was like a mini co-op reunion meets friends-4th-of-July bbq.
