Ever since March this year I have been heading to a boutique market in Southsea, they take place 1 weekend a month and I usually do just 1 of the days over a weekend, This month however there are some special events so I am doing 3 markets, the first was the usual boutique market, the second is an annual food festival and finally at the end of the month is the Americas cup weekend.

I thought I would share some photos of these 3 events and maybe some more. I always make a big sculpture to put outside my stall to attract attention.

Firstly the Boutique market on July the 5th, it was a busy weekend and I didn't have much time to prepare a big sculpture so I kind of threw the Windmill together at about 1am during the night before so I am not overly happy with it however it is a fully functional windmill with turning sails, I also forgot my big 'Bowtie balloon guy' banner AND my hat (grrrrr).

Here is a video of the Windmill in action - //https://youtu.be/ZmInCRyAjbM
Sadly it was the wind which killed the windmill in the end, around 3pm the sails decided to stop turning and I couldn't get them working again.

The next event was the Southsea food festival, this event was PACKED and I was busy from start until finish, I made a few big sculptures for this, The chef was meant to have a turning chicken on a spit but I just ran out of time, never mind, he was a HUGE hit and he had his photo taken hundreds of times.

I also managed to remember my hat and my big 'Bowtie balloon guy' banner (phew). but then I found one of my marquee corner brackets was missing (boooo, it was in the garage) and I managed to get the whole marquee to stay standing all day with Duct tape and a cardboard box (hooray, the wonders of duct tape).

The Hungry caterpillar was thrown together after I had set up and before the crowds had arrived, he spent most of the morning stuck to the roof but I kept having to add bits of duct tape because he kept bonking customers on the head (I found that funny anyway). He ended up inside the marquee and then at the end of the event I gave him to a lady to take home on her bike (hilarious to watch).

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Here are some more photos

The next event is the America's cup this coming Sunday (26th July), Portsmouth has been chosen to host this event and they are expecting 100,000 people to visit the city (eeeeek), fingers crossed they will all buy a balloon from me.

It's always nice to read your posts Rob.

I think the windmill was amazing, first of all, and not all looking thrown together and even if it didn't work, it still blew me away would most people. Secondly, in loveeee with the hungry hungry caterpillar. That was one of the first books I learned how to read by myself as a child. I love making my hungry hungry caterpillar hats, i'll have to post them sometime, when I go to my mom's work (she has worked at our local library for 15 years and is finally retiring this year) i only make book characters and I do a sort of ball cap where his food is the top and bill and tell them all about each book while I make the hats and get them pumped up about reading, every time the books fly off the shelves. It's great people posed with the chef! I think you make balloon food good enough to eat! If we ever meet at a convention or work shop, that's the #1 thing you have to show me how to do. Did you get your banner made locally or did you order it from online? And it is heavy vinyl? I'm considering in investing in a banner but I hear so many things about so many different types and from so many different places, I like to take polls when I can. Good luck at your next one, looking forward to pictures! Agree with Graham, always enjoy your posts  :mrgreen:

Thanks Graham and Meeboo

The Hungry Caterpillar is a Sue Bowler design (I think it was Sue's anyway, she was at one of Graham's Care and Share days),

I got my banner made by an online company, there are many out there with all kinds of banner to choose from, I just went through them all and chose what I thought was the best. I was offered many different types of banner, some with different finishing to last longer in different weather. I went for a fairly basic one as I knew my banner was never going to be out in the cold, rain or sunshine for too long, I think mine is meant to last for up to 5 years.

I am going to get another one to put out the front above the marquee, like an archway type thing if that makes sense, so it is about 12" tall by 9 or 12 feet long, with my name and phone number on it.

Is it your own marquee?

Quote from: "lowemagic"Is it your own marquee?

Yes it is

Here is a better photo of the Chef I made for the food festival

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I have just finished building my display model for tomorrow's market day at the America's Cup. I thought a pirate was a good choice for a sailing event.

Love it

So last sunday was my last Market day of July for the America's Cup weekend here in Portsmouth , it also happened to be the same day of some crazy weather including torrential rain and gale force winds. As you can imagine the day was complete disaster, There started off with 40+ market stalls in the morning but as the day went on the other stall holder decided to give up one by one, by about 2pm there were just 3 of us left, myself, the fudge guy and the Jamaican chicken guy stuck it out until the very end.

It was a tough day mainly because it was so cold (I wore gloves . . . . in July. . . . ) I also nearly lost my marquee 3 times, I had it weighted down with huge water weights and sand bags but even that was not enough and I eventually tied it down to the benches next to me. I did still sell balloons and I gave out lots of publicity so hopefully I will get a show or 2 from it. its not a problem though, you win some and you lose some so fingers crossed for my next one which happens to be tomorrow (Sunday 2nd) and the weather is going to be beautiful.

Im going to be trying out some new menus which are being discussed on another thread so it will be interesting to see how that goes.