Resolution

Just for the record, it WAS "Heather's" fault.

I got a phone call tonight from a fellow crafter who has all my stuff. She said that she has disabilities. (I remember her, she did a very nifty u-turn in front of our booth) Her daughter in law picked up her stuff for her. While the DIL was loading up the boxes clearly marked with the crafter's name, a young girl came up and said, "The lady told me to put these in your van." And "Heather" loaded my box and my friend's plastic bag in the car. Regardless of what "Heather's" mom shouted at me, no one ever told Heather to do anything other than stand there with the stuff.

The DIL called the crafter incensed because she realized that they belonged to someone else, and thought her mother in law had "volunteered" her for an extra delivery. The crafter actually put the box and bag BACK into her own car and drove BACK to the church to see if anyone knew whose stuff it was. Someone was there turning out the lights and said the fair was all over. BUT it MUST have been that janitor guy who knew we were right there in the parking lot waiting in the rain for AAA.

Not only that, but no one has called this crafter to ask if she had an extra box - so the organizers broke faith with me there as well.

So this evening, the crafter looked through my stuff and found my phone number and I'm going out to meet her tomorrow evening to get my stuff back. Hallelujah

But I am still very upset about the lack of concern I met from the organizers. I think they have a certain amount of responsibility for making crafters feel safe. Needless to say, I'm not going back there again.

My trust level has gone down a notch. I now know that it is highly likely that I will be separated from my stuff during set up and pull down at these fairs. I will have better signage on my boxes and I will have my own "volunteers" watch my stuff. NO more trusting organizers who offer their volunteers. As someone said in Mass today, they made a bundle. Every crafter paid for their booth. They don't care if you sell anything or not. They don't care if you loose your shirt as long as they get their booth fee. That certainly seems to be true in this case.