Not valid on cable cars.
The Castro Street Fair was on Sunday and I was on hand in a custom-made booth to sell my postcards for the very first time. The whole thing involved quite a bit of anticipation because I have been working on this series for three weeks and I really didn’t know what to expect from the fair or the booth or my collaborators.
The booth exceeded my expectations. We somehow acquired an easy-prop tent with folding tables and the premises looked passably professional. Adrienne and Tent (Tent is a person, not a shelter) stenciled a nice looking sign and our whole show had a pleasantly homemade aesthetic to it. Adrienne sold pillows and stuffed monkeys, Lili sold dress-me-up felt people cards, Tent sold stenciled sundries, and of course I had my postcards. The fair was packed and, for the most part, flaming. This makes for pretty good street fair atmosphere and by around 3PM Castro Street between Market and 19th was absolutely packed, despite the huge free bluegrass show going on in Golden Gate Park.
I didn’t really sell that many postcard sets. It’s not so surprising: screen prints of ugly houses in southern San Francisco don’t get in your face quite as much as sandblasted cock sculptures. If my determination as a salesman was more robust, I would have considered the venue in my design. Luckily, I have a day job. And it wasn’t all disappointment. At one point a guy bought a set and then came back for three more. So that’s nice, right?