Gypsy Caravan 2009: Wet, But Not Dampening Our Spirits

Something about Memorial Day in St. Louis--it always rains! This year there were no severe storms and our canopy stayed up, but it was still a challenge to keep our "dry goods" well, dry. Marty has just once again moved a rack of our Gypsy Bags back under the edge of the shelter. It was a challenge to display items attractively because they had to be crowded, but we did our best.

We started with 27 Gypsy Bags created by the collective of Marty, Kathy, Shannon, Marsha, Judi, Leslie, Liz, Jacque, Jan, Madeline....some sewed, some ironed, some cut out fabric, many donated the fabrics as well.










We sold a lot of our items during the brief bouts of sun that graced us in the middle of the day. But by the third rain shower, many shoppers simply left and headed home. By the end of the day, we had 11 Gypsy Bags remaining. These, and the unsold potato baking bags (visible on table at left) will be available on Sunday, May 31 and thereafter. We will also make some special orders for you if you have a certain kind of fabric in mind! (Some of these in the picture were sold after the photo was taken.)

We had wonderful help from a great bunch of dedicated volun- teers who set up, staffed, and broke down our booth. Thanks to Roger, Devin, Brenda and Leslie for setting up on Sunday afternoon. Our great staff on Saturday included Cindy, Brenda & family, Norm, and Judi who opened up at 6:30; Madeline, Roberta, Talya, Cory, Leslie, Marty and Darrell who took shifts from 9 to 5. And gold stars to Marty, Darrell and Leslie for helping Judi and Norm take down, pack up the remainder, and haul everything home at the end of the day. Special thanks to Leslie for use of her new canopy--which survived the day intact!

Our preliminary tally from the day's sale is around $650, less than last year, but amazing given the rainy day. I'll have a better tally in a week or so, depending on "after" sales this upcoming weekend. All of these proceeds will go to reducing the Compton Cares accessibility project indebtedness.

Thanks to everyone who donated an item for us to sell. We weren't able to sell all of them, but there is always Next Year. Will there be a Next Year? Maybe. We need to refine our focus on items to sell, and work on ways to be more immune to the damp weather. Stay tuned!