That was a most exciting weekend! Minnekhada Lodge was quite magical, full of surprised & interested people & lots of great art and artists. The "First Annual" may turn out to be a regular event. The organizers said there were almost 600 people over the 2 days & with shorter hours (11 to 4 pm daily) there was a steady flow of folks to entertain.
I was pleased to sell some of my magic books, cards, magic lists and at last, an original painting! Seems like this year is a bit tight for original art so to sell a watercolour at this sale was a breakthrough for me. There were lots of others there who didn't. My business cards also vanished at a surprising pace so my presence and name is getting known. And I had lots of fun with the magic draw, the magic pencils (almost sold out of those & they were a real hit with the kids) & playing with the magician & other people who were interested in magic, fairies, and the like.
Minnekhada Lodge used to be the summer/hunting lodge of one of BC's Lieutenant-Governers, Eric Hamber, back in the 1920s, and is now a regional park. The Lodge itself is a beautiful building set on a hillside overlooking farmland and the Pitt River where it flows into the Fraser, and the room I shared with another local artist had a fantastic view and light. The Lodge is set into a Metro Vancouver park, with a lovely beaver pond, lots of forest and walks, and also, lots of bears (which hide out in the woods when they're not headed for the local blueberry fields.) There were many sighted by people on the shuttle buses and the local hikers & bikers during the weekend, including a sow with 2 cubs. I was just starting my walk from the original farm down their driveway, & up to the Lodge on Sunday morning when I noticed the traffic on the main road had stopped. I was about 100 metres from my truck at the time, and about 200 metres away from the road. So, I too stopped to ascertain what was going on & sure enough, there was a large-ish black bear between me & the road. Needless to say I didn't carry on for about 10 minutes, until the traffic drove on, the bear continued across the field to my left & into the ditch, over the road & into the blueberries on the other side. At that point I had about 5 minutes left until showtime but I figured the blueberries would be more attractive to the bear than a tough old artist so I hightailed it down the driveway & then onto the main road where there were a few more people, dogs, and bikes. No worries!
The rest of the day was much tamer although I was a bit worried that the smell of the bbq just outside the Lodge would be even more enticing to bears than the old blueberries!
A great time was had by all, and now I'm very ready for bed, a possible meeting with Michael who has a corporate branding & website proposal to present tomorrow, and a well-deserved rest week! I'll be back soon to create some more fun & magic--see you then!
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