Festival Merchandising

RantWoman clearly would rather again be out strolling Folklife getting sunburnt, soaking up reggae and techno-bluegrass, foot-tapping at a drum circle, checking out all the dance lessons or just getting a contact high in the crowd while pretending not to shop and of course shopping a teeny tiny amount. Alas the work of the self-employed is never done and if RantWoman wants to have money to buy actual merchandise at any of these local festivities, she needs to get on the ball and do a big invoice.

First, an enthusiastic product placement for the one thing RantWoman regrets not buying yesterday a Medium Boat Tote from Hempmania . RantWoman is completely delighted that this bag has handles that go all the way down the bag, a really nice outside pocket and an inside clip for keys or another item one wants to have handy. More on RantWoman's purchase priorities below.

Folklife abounds in merchandise: There are booths full of jewelry, scarves, kitschy household items, leather cowboy hats, more scarves, handbags made of recycled rubber or old film strips or multi-colored duct tape or recycled placemats. Eco friendly everything earnestly flaunted itself. Scented all natural soaps would all naturally relieve one of up to $100 (you read that correctly) a bar. Lots of bright-colored gauzy clothing and piles of random scarves oozed out of some booths. There was more tie-dye than the entire 60's generation of RantWoman's childhood fascination with the stuff could dream of wearing.

Most of all, there was hemp, at least two booths with different really nice hemp bags. RantWoman is consistently charmed by the hemp marketers' claims about the fiber's eco-friendliness; RantWoman also just really likes the cloth for being tough and pleasant to feel and fairly water resistant. RantWoman's favorite hemp products booth by a long shot is Hempmania . They consistently have a whole range of large and small bags with really cool design features, book bags, fanny packs, pretty much the whole range of personal baggage options--with one small exception RantWoman will mention below.

RantWoman had already strolled a good bit of the festival and there was no obvious reason for her hesitation on the purchase step, but hesitate she did and wander along further. Apparently, RantWoman needed to meet The Purple Competitor. RantWoman found another booth. This other booth seemed to have a lot of yoga cushions. It also had the one thing that could compete with Hempmania's offering, a bright purple hemp tote.

The Purple Competition was a little larger than Hempmania 's offering which would not have displeased RantWoman. The Purple Competition had handles sewn into the top like most such bags. The handles had double rows of anchor stitching and were probably even longer than the ones on Hempmania's bags. There was an inside pocket though no key hook that RantWoman could see. In other words, the bag was competitive; Aside from the brilliant purple color, RantWoman liked some features better on one, some better on the other and if either had had any reflectivity sewn in, that would have settled it handsdown.

Here we get to rant about someone else going to all the trouble to tote mass quantities of merchandise to the festival and then being too far out to lunch to notice a customer who was standing around for a good few minutes and might have bought something if the salesfolk had bestirred themselves to interact. RantWoman naively expects sales staff to be either standing up looking alert or perhaps sitting on some kind of chair at customer level. RantWoman finally located the sales staff at the Purple Competitor's booth seated on some kind of rug in the middle of their booth sitting around and chatting. RantWoman could have cleared her throat at this point or spoken up, but she decided just to play games and see how long it would take for the staff to notice her. When there was no movement for a decent interval, RantWoman just wandered away. Sorry guys. RantWoman knows tending such a booth all day is exhausting, but that's all the more reason not to let your customers get away!

If RantWoman is feeling especially vehement, there might also be a tirade about multiple versions of touch-screen marketing measures so irksome that RantWoman not only bagged any thought of winning any cheesy gifts but also dragged Thwack away quickly since Thwack's approach to social lubricant is um decidedly non-festive.

Speaking of Thwack, another thing RantWoman is in the market for is some kind of bag or case for Thwack. When Thwack is clean and dry and RantWoman is indulging Thwack's tendency toward indolence or her own tendency to try to fake things, Thwack usually lounges curled up in one of RantWoman's regular totes. However, when Thwack is wet or dirty or when RantWoman will want him handy again soon, RantWoman wants another option.

Thwack is the longest version of his model so even when folded up, he does not fit into some of the places people carry their canes such as the water-bottle netting found on some kinds of book bags. As RantWoman write, she realizes she may have seen some bags with shoulder straps designed for larger water bottles and wonders whether that might actually work. File that comment.

RantWoman has seen some offerings on the Internet specifically for white cane cases. Pathetic is the first word that comes to mind about most of them. They are vinyl and have a shoulder strap when RantWoman things she might just want a clip so she could clip the case to the outside of her bags. RantWoman would also prefer something permeable that might promote drying instead of just collect more water to molder away. In fact, although RantWoman could see some combination of Cordura and Velcro that might do the trick, she is also thinking of asking a friend who crochets whether, if for instance she got him some nice hemp cord, he could make her something that will do the trick. Stay tuned.