CLAYFEST 2005
BY Connie Chadwick

For those of you who didn’t participate in the Sacramento Potter’s Group  “CLAYFEST’, you missed a day of good weather, friendly faces and a shared comradeship amongst the potters, some of which had worked very hard to make this special day of ours successful.  This is, after all, a day designed to show off the many talents of local and surrounding area clay artists, to promote our ideas in clay, a chance to educate the public of what is involved in the particular process we choose, and to make a little money so we can carry on doing what we do.     

The morning setup went smoothly.  Tables arrived at the clay pipe-carving site. We had been worried not enough tables would show up.  I might add that some of those carved pipes were downright outstanding.  Very creative work. Thank you to all who participated, great job well done.     

Canopies came to the rescue of our wonderful Laura Kneppel and her great little rock and roll band, the Cat McCarthy Gang.  They played and sang their hearts out to entertain the public and us and keep the spirit of the day flowing.     

The Rotary Club organizes and sponsors the children’s activity booth that is always a crowd pleaser with anyone that has little ones in tow.  I love watching those fresh, young little minds expressing themselves freely with clay.  The clay was provided by Gladding McBean factory.  The Rotary Club volunteers were a patient bunch as they helped guide the children through their clay experience.  Poster paints of various bright primary colors were provided for a finishing touch.

Ongoing demonstrations of wheel throwing are usually met with much enthusiasm from the public and this year was no exception.  IMCO was once again gracious to provide their wheels and time to help make the day a success.

Organizers in the Group worked very hard to get the word out this year.  All potters were asked to send or contact their local newspaper and/or radio station with press release information to promote “CLAYFEST”.  There were complaints that the crowd was down from last year.  Yes, it was easily visible throughout the day that we didn’t have as good a turnout as last year.  I can only say that the worker bees worked very hard at promoting the “CLAYFEST” and if you were one of those that didn’t volunteer to help, then you don’t have much room to complain.  My sales were down slightly, about l5% from last year.  All fairs I have attended lately have been down.  Gee, could the economy and high gas prices possibly have anything to influence the current times?