festival sunday

Festival Sunday wasn't as sunny and bright as Saturday was but not as wet and rainy as Monday turned out to be. It was a nice, in-between sort of day, lots of people, lots of kids, lots of dogs.

The Word on the Street Festival is an annual book fair that goes on in the park behind the provincial legislature buildings in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We had a booth there this year just inside the inner ring. We (the talent: Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera, and me, Ben Chiu, the Editor-in-Chief and resident sign hanger-upper) got there at about 9:00 a.m. to set up. To our right was the Canadian Theater Review; to our left was shebytches.com, makers of angry, black and white bags, t-shirts and accessories. It was an interesting mix of presenters they had this year.

It took us about an hour and a half to get everything JUST SO, during which time, it started to rain. Water draining off the canopy overhead soaked our sign. It was the last remaining ghost of Hurricane Rita coming north of the border. Luckily the rain didn't last long and by the time the festival officially started at 11:00 a.m., it'd tapered off. We even had some sunshine. The humidity lingered for the rest of the day and made Kei's hair all frizzy though, haha.

The people of Toronto are great art creators and appreciators. Most everybody who walked by the booth stopped to check out a print, talk to the artists, and, yes, even buy some stuff! :) By the end of the day, we'd sold out of just about everything, save for a few prints, a handful of bookmarks, and a couple of postcards. Latecomers drifting by in the early evening who wanted to buy pictures, which had been sold out since lunchtime, had us tear down pieces of our display so they could purchase it, icky tape residue on the back and all.

A big thanks to everybody who came by: the subway sketchers, internet fans, and other admirers of Bobby's work! It was a long day with lots of standing and talking, lifting things and running around. I think Bobby, Kei, and I were all exhausted by the end of the day. I got home at around 9:30 p.m. and fell right to bed. I dreamed of festival-goers coming by my apartment and buying the Bobby Chiu paintings right off my walls, haha.

This art business is awesome. :)

Ben,
Editor-in-Chief
Imaginism Studios