Summer's Almost Over

 I love August, when I put the biz on the backseat and drive my DIY life around my yard. I had a new roof put on finally, to replace the one I put on in 1996, successfully resisting the urge to do this one too. I know I can't do heavy work like that, but it's so hard to give up what makes me happy. I am a worker. 

Of course any time you touch a part of an old house you start a chain of repairs that present themselves gently and remind you they have needed to be done for awhile. I've always had rodents in the attic and it turns out there was a place they had just chewed up the plywood that was water damaged and were waltzing past my steel wool stuffing, which did give me some temporary relief last winter. So I got some new plywood and it needed to be painted at the gable...which I cannot reach from my light extension ladder that isn't sturdy enough to work on when fully extended. So I borrowed my neighbors gigantic heavy ladder despite knowing it was too heavy for me to move myself. I fixed all the things about the north gable I'd set aside and then had to paint the north side again, which has made the front of the house look shabby but that's going to have to wait for next summer when I will have to get the porch repaired and front steps rebuilt from other water damage, something I was going to do this year. 

And then while I had the ladder I had to touch up the southern gable too because I don't want to not neaten it up after giving it a try last summer with a brush holder on a pole which made a pretty sloppy presentation. But with a house this old, (over 100) there is plenty of sloppy paint and places where water has made its way in and every summer is some  kind of painting and some kind of repair. Plus, I have the second house, not quite as old but even more funky and that rat entrance is next on the list. I'm debating the gable in the back, but being thorough while I can is always a good idea I'm happy about when it's over. And of course in the roofing some gutter brackets got broken and I had to do some of that, with the brittle plastic gutters no longer sold that I have to get up apparently before Wednesday as rain is predicted. I'll believe that when I see it. It's unlikely we will get a deluge so I'll just get whatever gutter work I can fit in. Summer's not really over when August ends although we are getting that cool weather that is the harbinger of the dreaded winter once again.

So the metaphor of the day is that the market is like an old house in when you touch something, something else usually breaks. And what it looks like is that all of these fee increases has broken the members ability to thrive. My analysis of my own sales is that on the face of it, I'm making less than the previous two years, but I raised my prices, so I'm selling a lot less, and the increase in fees is coming up huge. There's a reason we are not seeing a census now that we have plenty of staff to do the work to make one. 

I'm seeing many members who used to come every week now coming the minimum once a month, which hurts your business in every way except your weekly expenses. Your potential customers don't find you there, your new customers find someone else, and you lose your feelings of loyalty to your community and your sense of belonging and routine. For many, the fee increases on top of the gas and vehicle expenses to get to market, and the increase in every kind of materials, is just way too much to continue, and we see many fewer jewelers as they run out of previously bought silver and such, and in general, an erosion of our regular, dependable member population. The market isn't filling every space, with a new wrinkle of people moving into the 4x4s from the 8x8s so that less expensive option is running out of space. There is not an endless supply of new members and the costs for those people are extra-daunting, though they know they have to invest to get going. It's rare to be successful right away and then sustain it over time. 

Many of the more successful members have added more out of town shows where they know they will make thousands instead of hundreds and those shows are easier to get into as all events are facing the increased costs themselves, of just everything. There's a complex balance to it all which is why we always used a lot of tracking analysis like the census to see what our trends were, to collect data over years about how our members were adapting to changing conditions, which have always driven our choices. It has been shocking how little data has been applied to all of these fee increase decisions.

I was surprised to see that someone with authority has said there are only five members interested in selling in November because we have never had a November market with less than a hundred members present, in my memory. Even in monsoon conditions we have more than enough members, and all of us always made pretty good sales as the customers wanted to support us. Now we have told the community not to count on us being there and that is going to be even worse in 2027 as it looks like the market will end sometime in October if the Board vote goes the way it looks like it will. 

Members have gotten used to not bothering to express our opinions as we are dismissed anyway and for many of us, our credibility is attacked and even our most reasonable and well-put arguments are spun as complaining or self-interested. The company line is pervasive in all of the issues and the minutes are minimal when it comes to supporting arguments for any other view. Any public record of any discussion is very detailed for some opinions and deceptively thin for others. 

You can look between the lines if you know the people and have conversations with them, but the enabling of the narcissist's positions is only evident if you are paying close attention. Her favorites and the in-group are assertive and willing to defame their opponents, so most people are just not bothering to speak up. They're looking elsewhere to get their needs met. 

To follow up on the Standards Notice of Concern about my hats, the Committee sent me a letter which I found inconclusive, and didn't escalate to further sanctions, but I don't think the discussion is necessarily over. The minutes gave me no information and I never got to see the language of the concern so even if I wanted to respond to what was really said, I can't. I overexplained, which is a common defensive tactic to narcissistic harassment, but the anxiety production that was the intent worked and I was damaged. 

With the scent issue, they didn't finish handling it yet, but the desired outcome is apparent, which is less enforcement of the solutions that were put in place last time this came up. It's not that hard to see what was done there, but it's knotty so I'll stop here, though I have a lot more observations of how some people are listened to and some aren't, disregarding the structure and effort of their communications and their ability to make their points clearly. Many of us are not great communicators and that makes us easy to manipulate, sadly.

There is one ray of hope that comes with the appointment of our 5th Treasurer of this regime, as she is a retired CPA with the skills we need. We need real data, we need historical perspective, we need analysis and planning. We need to find out what members are experiencing. It is not enough to say the market is making money. We still don't know how last year finalized after the tax expense was factored in. We aren't getting the reporting we need and deserve and we again have no real idea if we're solvent and how solvent we are. This has been true now for almost the whole time since 2021. Financial accountability used to be our top priority. We can't continue like this. We work really hard for our money. Seeing it squandered is so hurtful. 

Meanwhile, members are just being told to promote ourselves in a bunch of different ways. Lots of members did make location signs, nice ones, and then the numbers were changed. Lots of members do post and tag on social media and some are not shared, or retagged. I am not promoting myself on social media, so I'm just relaying what people have told me, but social media is just one way we are supported. I'm not interested in the directory any more. I had photos up, which were tossed out in the remodel, and I put up more, but I can't access my portal anymore so whatever. Come find me in person. Meanwhile, my fees pay for promotions...for everyone. Including people in the out-group. I haven't seen any inclusive promotions in a long time. 

Now we are facing the first football game next week, at 12:30. That can just ruin our day. My strategy is to be ready to sell at 9:00 if possible as people do not know we don't open until 10. I try to find out the opposing team's colors and mascot so I can identify their fans and make them feel welcome. I don't identify as a duck and hate the yellow and green combo and all the hype, and I serve tourists so I see that I have maybe three hours of my day to make those sales. I can tell who is new to market by their reaction to my hats, so I extend myself if I can to let them know I appreciate that they took the time to come on a busy morning. I am extra friendly and interested, in my sales persona. I work it. 

I also try to give extra support to the farmers if I can, as tourists don't buy a lot of produce. Sometimes people with Oregon products do okay, as people do like to take gifts home. There will be some shopping for Christmas if the opponents don't have craft markets like ours. I definitely hope a lot of members come for the short day which might include rain I guess, as it pains me greatly to see a wimpy market with the dashed expectations of the visitors who have heard such great things about us. I really hope we can have a good day for the first weekend in September. 

I'm sad to see August end as always, so I'd better get out there and get those projects wrapped up if I can. I'm sure there are chilly rats ready to move into my shop ceiling if I don't get that highway blocked off. And I have to return that ladder, once I'm sure I'm finished with it. Something tells me it is the last time I am going to borrow it. My neighbor can't lift it either...he's even older than I am.