Attending craft events and meeting people

Debbie and I, along with our oldest nephew, Gavin, made the three hour-plus trek to Clarinda in southwest Iowa Friday a week ago to sell our goods at the 61st Clarinda Craft Carnival Saturday, Sept. 18.

This is our fifth year and Gavin’s second to attend and sell our goods.

Debbie had a great day, selling 17 books, the best she has ever done at any craft event. And Gavin had a great day as well, selling his goat meat products.

Debbie’s comment after the carnival — “This was fun.”

One young lady bought Debbie’s first three books in her Hope Series last year. “I just love your books,” she told Debbie when visiting our booth.

She then discovered that Debbie had published a fourth book in the Hope Series and it was like she found a lost jewel. “I have been waiting for this,” she said as she paid for book four and placed it in her bag.

And something new and different this year — I handed out Halloween candy to youngsters and some adults at the carnival.

We stopped at a General Dollar in Shenandaoh, where we stayed the night, and bought a large Halloween bowl and some candy.

By early afternoon, I had run out of suckers, the most popular candy in my bowl.

And late Saturday morning, my sister-in-law, and her friend along with her mother arrived at the craft carnival and stayed the day.

The show featured 475 vendors spread out across five buildings in Clarinda. Craft carnival attendees are bused from building-to-building and it’s busy throughout the day.

All the items at the Clarinda show have to be homemade or handmade.

I remember a couple years ago, several women showed up at our booth toward the close of the show and were buying books out of our suitcase we used to haul them around.

And at our first show, we met two older sisters from nearby Villisca, who shared a story about growing up in the Ax Murder town and not knowing anything about it.

After high school sometime in the late 1950s, the two sisters spent the summer working at a vacation resort in Colorado.

It was there they learned from a another summer worker about the Ax Murders.

When they called home and asked about it, their mother said we never talked about it as relatives of the eight murder victims were still living in Villisca.

That was a memorable experience and story.

We have three more craft events on the calendar this fall in Indianola, Pleasantville and Victor. We have sold our books at all these shows and have done well in past years. And we expect to do well at all these shows again this year.

In past years, we have attended craft shows or other events in Coralville, Des Moines (at Adventureland, Iowa State Fairgrounds and Barnes & Noble), Malcom, Grinnell, Pella, Jewel, Marshalltown, Nevada, Perry, Calamus, Davenport, Wapello, Burlington and Rock Island, Illinois.

As with anything worth trying in life, there is always a risk.

The key to success is having a good attitude, connecting with event attendees and talking about your products. It doesn’t hurt to have a nice display to showcase your products.

My favorite part of participating in the craft events is spending time with Debbie and meeting new people.

And for the last couple years, a fellow I met at the Iowa State Fair Campground who lives south of Clarinda near the Missouri border, comes to the show and always stops and visits.

He buys estates and sells the goods online.

At this year’s Iowa State Fair, he said he had some postcards and knew I collected them and thought I might be interested.

He gave me his business card and asked me to call him before this year’s craft carnival. And in true J.O. fashion, I brought his card home and laid it down and couldn’t find it before this year’s event.

When he stopped at our booth, I mentioned something about the postcards, saying that I had lost his business card.

“I was driving here and remembered about the postcards, but don’t know where I put them,” he told me.

Hopefully we will get connected at the 2026 Iowa State Fair Campground and can make a deal.

I always say, strangers are just waiting to become friends.

Have a great week, and always remember that “Good Things are Happening” every day.