Around the Venue

The Lakeshore Art Fair is held in and around Hackley Park in Muskegon each year. This is the central statue in the park, 80 feet tall, of "Victory." The park is to honor Civil War veterans.

These artistic sprinklers were being sold right across the street from us. Little kids had fun playing in the spray. I didn't price them, but they must have cost plenty since I think they rented three booth spaces to have room to set up the sprinkler.

There weren't any unusual plants in the gardens around Hackley Park, but they were nicely kept. Stella D'Oro lilies and Impatiens.

And the hanging planters had hot petunia colors. But they are nice and full.

On the other side of me was author friend, Michael Carrier, who writes thriller mysteries set in the Upper Peninsula.

And so that Kay-Kay could have a rest, Jean brought Laya today. Laya is an old hand at events and can be walked on a leash! I certainly never knew that chickens could be so calm.

The storm line held off until about 3:30. We all took down non-essential parts of our displays and held out until the last minute. None of us was willing to let books get wet! We all helped each other at the end. The only things of mine that got wet were the bare table and the canopy. I can dry those out this week. Many of us hadn't expected we'd even get as many good hours out of today as we did. The wind was gusty, and even with weights, we spent some anxious moments holding down our canopies, but all ended well.

I haven't added up the sales yet, but I did all right. Definitely some profit even with transportation and allowing myself that one junk food treat yesterday. Did I make enough for two days work and a day of prep? Hard to say. It takes forever to build up a reputation as an indie author. I did better than many. And I had some return customers. It's hard not to compare myself to author neighbor Michael, who is well-known, and who sells one or more books about every 30 seconds. But others had a poor sales weekend, and I feel bad for them. It's really hard when you don't even cover your booth space.

I do love the way our Michigan Author community tries to support each other.

See Bring Your Chicken to Work Day

Muskegon State Park and a Mini-Miracle

 
The sales event finished at 2 pm, and the day was beautiful, so I went to Muskegon State Park and took a little walk.

First the mini-miracle. I had thrown walking shoes in the car, but no alternate clothes. I was wearing light tan pants, which should have almost guaranteed I'd fall in the mud. And when you see the pictures you'll know that is no idle claim. But I did not get muddy. Wow. I'm ruining my Pigpen reputation, I guess.

This was spur of the moment, and I was glad there were some trail maps at the kiosk. A web site said you could do a 4.2 mile loop with the Devil's Kitchen and Dune Ridge Trails. In theory, this is what I did, but the trail signage leaves a lot to be desired, and the paper maps are copies of copies of copies... hard to read.

Anyway, I left the Snug Harbor parking lot and headed south. I would have avoided some disorientation later if I'd noticed that the map is printed with North to the left, instead of up. This wasn't a major problem, but I was momentarily confused when I came to Lake Michigan after hiking what I first thought was east!

Today I'll just show the trail, and tomorrow some pretty details.

The first part of the trail was wide and inviting.



But then it came to the Devil's Kitchen, a long narrow bayou of Muskegon Lake. The park gets bad points for signage, but I'll grade on a curve because of the high water this year, making lowland trail maintenance difficult. However, when I came to this, I just said "no," because I wasn't going wading in muck.



A short distance up-bayou was this crossing. Not too unsteady. Still, I thought sure I'd dunk a leg since I was wearing good clothes, but I didn't.



On the far side there were trails all over the place, unmarked, so I picked one that climbed, and found myself, after a bit, on the Dune Ridge Trail. This was fine, although my original intent was to take the Devil's Kitchen Trail out and Dune Ridge back.

Soon I was approaching Lake Michigan with views across the dunes.



I caught a shot of the Lake Express ferry (Muskegon's rival of the Badger carferry in Ludington). It's coming in the channel from the big lake to Muskegon Lake.



Then the Dune Ridge Trail drops down to the lake level. After some paved walking past the south campground loops, the Devil's Kitchen Trail heads back along the shore of Muskegon Lake.



So, I'm thinking about that bayou-kitchen with high water, and wondering how this trail is going to get around it, or if I may need to turn around and backtrack the whole thing. Well, it was a nice day, so what if I have to?

The trail got narrower and narrower, but there was still a little dry ridge between the lake and the bayou. (If you danced between the waves.)



Until there wasn't! With solid brush beyond.



So, I turned around. But at the bottom of the dune where the Kitchen begins, there was a narrow trail I hadn't noticed that leads along the edge of the bayou. I took that, and soon was deciding between a somewhat dry ridge, or to walk around the head of the bayou. The ridge looked iffy, so I kept going, and the trail did just circle around the bayou, completely dry. As I came back to the actual trail, ha! That ridge was indeed the trail, and it was where I had earlier crossed on those sticks.

One last view of the Devil's Kitchen from near the head of the bayou.



And I just liked the reflection of the red leaves in the puddle.



Took me two hours to do the loop. Probably about four miles, what with loose sand on the dune, taking pictures, and trying to figure out the correct trails.

If you do this, I suggest at least having a map. My route is in red. I started and finished at the north end.


Pretties tomorrow!

In other news: The show was fine, although I sold 4 times as much last year. Last year, it was in November, and I suspect people were Christmas shopping in earnest by then. I made some money today, but not nearly as much as I'd hoped. The hike redeemed the day.

Muskegon State Park, Muskegon, Michigan, Devil's Kitchen and Dune Ridge Trails. 4.2 miles

	See Ottawa County Hike
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Lakeshore Art Fair- In the Book

 
Today was the second day of the Lakeshore Art Fair in Muskegon. I'm home now, and glad to be so. It was a great weekend, but really at the limit of nearly everyone's tolerance for people. We were all counting down the minutes until we could wrap up the booths.



Like many cities that choose to display some common decorated sculpture form, Muskegon has chosen kayaks. I just liked this one with the food midway spreading down the street in the background.


Now I'm doing a repeat of some pix I threw up on Facebook yesterday because these are the other authors I shared a tent with (there was also a second tent), and want to promote them again. One of the best things about events like this is talking with other people who are all trying to do approximately the same thing. You get to hear other authors' stories, learn from them, hear about what works and what doesn't... all that sort of thing.

All the mystery writers shared one side of the tent. That worked really well for all of us! Here I am with Don Levin, who writes traditional police procedural mysteries. As you know, I do cozies and now children's mysteries.



On the other side of me was Peg Henning/Maggie Pill (she writes under both names) who has cozies and traditional mysteries, and Michael Carrier from the UP who has what he describes as "hard-boiled" mysteries.



Across from us was Rose Hammond with memoirs and historical non-fiction about Idlewild, Bonnie Vokits with a spiritual memoir, and Nick Hutchinson with a novel.



And finally, Bob Muladore with a memoir about being in the State Police, Jules Nelson with an historical novel, and Andrew Smith with thrillers.



Don, Andrew and I will be at the Ludington Writers' Rendezvous in two weeks!

Saddest stories of the day: Two different times kids had my books in their hands, but when they went to get their parents the adults wouldn't even come look. I'm not passing judgement on parents who may be at their last straw... kids may be been pills all day... they may have already bought the kids something, etc. But the only part I don't understand is when a kid wants a book that they wouldn't even come look.

Best story of the day: Almost at the end of the day a girl- about nine- picked up Secret Cellar. She showed it to her dad. She asked what each of the books was about. They asked the prices. Her dad asked her which one she wanted. She "whispered" I want them all. He asked her again, and she didn't whine or get wheely-dealy or anything, but just said, "I want all three." He pulled out the plastic and got all three. Sorry dad... and I got to tell him the 4th one will be out in two weeks!

I haven't done the accounts yet, but I think I did quite well. Very much worth the risk of taking on a more expensive show. Surprisingly, I sold six copies of North Country Cache, which usually only does well at hiker/trail venues.

	See Lakeshore Art Fair- Day 1
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