What a beautiful weekend it was in Berkeley the last two days. I just arrived home a little sunburn and a lot tired after talking to new and current customers who visited the Golden Gate Organics booth at the festival. The festival itself had an enormous footprint. Perhaps even too big.

The Bay Area Book Festival, or BABF for short, occupied much of downtown Berkeley. Some streets such as the one our booth was on, Radical Row, had tents lining both sides of the street and made for a very festive atmosphere. Other streets, however, were lined on only one side with tents leaving a vast expanse of the street open. As a festival sponsor and a booth occupant I would’ve liked to see both sides of each street lined with tents. This would’ve decreased the amount of walking required for festival goers, decreased the number of streets that needed to be shut down to traffic, and most likely would have increased the exposure of all booths throughout the festival. I am confident that due to the wide expanse of the festival there are many people who did not see all that there was to see.

Of course this is not to take away from Lisa Bullwinkle and her event management business, Another Bullwinkle Show, that managed this unwieldy spectacle. When registering before the event she let me know that she was not able to do the Chocolate and Chalk festival this year due to all the planning required for the BABF. Indeed, the BABF is an enormous event for Berkeley. Personally, Golden Gate Organics had a very successful weekend even if a few of the authors I spoke to in nearby booths shared mixed feelings on their results. Oh well, different strokes for different folks I guess. After looking at the preparations of these same authors it was obvious that they should keep to writing and not venture off into marketing anytime soon! I was happy to share some of the lessons I gained from five years of attending these types of festivals with the occupants of the tent across from ours. David Haldane the author of Nazis and Nudists as well as his booth-mate Doug Piotter who was selling copies of his book Fixed:Dope sacks, dye packs, and the long way back. Both guys were great human beings and I wish them success.

Over the weekend I talked to probably a hundred people in one form or another. From giving my entire pitch to a surprised passersby to simply complying with a hard charger demanding to sign them up for organic produce and grocery deliveries immediately. I love the diversity of experiences from brief encounters afforded by having a booth at a festival like this one.

All in all it was a successful event for GGO. Next weekend Steven and I will be at the Temescal Street Fair in Oakland on Sunday and we are looking forward to being back in the hometown of GGO. Until then stay healthy and keep living your organic lifestyle.