We had a great day at the Margaretvill Antiques Fair yesterday even though we had to pack up when the rains came. There was a lot of interest in our books on Catskill history. We sold works by local authors John Burroughs, Alf Evers, Bob Steuding, Robert Titus, John Ham and Tim Weldner among others from farther afield. Books on the local railroad history continued to get a lot of interest, even though John Ham's major books are expensive. Apart from books the classic rock vinyl records sold well because of the attractive and informative album covers as much as the actual recordings. Comics were a hot item too. Children's books are always popular, and it was bittersweet to see our large book with the cover art of Dennis the Menace go off with a happy new owner.
We packed up in the rain, saving all the books from damage, and headed off for 4 hours in the rain at the Phoenicia Voicefest production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Thank goodness they had a big tent for the audience, so we didn't have to huddle under the blue tarp we brought with us. The music was sublime. I do not recall ever having heard opera sound better.
Our next venture into festival vending will be at Shandaken Day in Phoenicia on August 27. This will be our third participation in Shadaken Day, and we always look forward to it every year. Phoenicia seems to be "hot" right now (a part of the "new Brooklyn???) and we look forward to a friendly crowd of book, record, and comic book lovers.
We got a line on a big collection of books on fly fishing for sale by one of the visitors to our booth in Margaretville yesterday, and we hope to buy at least part of this collection to put it on sale at Shandaken day. Trout fishing is one of the traditional attractions of the Catskills, and I hope to read up on it myself so that I can try my hand at casting into the Esopus next Spring. My last trout fishing experience was in Wyoming back in 1965, so I hope it's just like riding a bicycle.
