Each show has its challenges, but we never expected a hurricane to be one of them. This year, we spent the week leading up to Harvest Faire watching to see if Hurricane Matthew was going to hit near Virginia Beach. It didn’t, but the rain and winds that make up the edge were problem enough.

Still, we were there! Some vendors never showed, but there were still plenty of people around on Friday to make the show worth it. We came well prepared, with side walls and multiple tarps to try and stay as dry as we could.

Friday night was fine, and plenty of people came by, even in the dark. Saturday, as the day went on, the weather got worse. Rain picked up, and the weather report was threatening the coming winds.

The organizers were awesome, and sent people around about 4pm saying that vendors were welcome to pack up if they wanted, and come back Sunday morning. Our work is fine with a bit of damp, but neither leather nor wood is great with a soaking rain. Plus, we did not want to try and stay on site with what the forecast had in store.

So, we packed everything up (thank you friendly helpers!), found a cheap hotel not too far away, and went to stay warm and dry.

Good thing we did, because apparently it hit the site viciously. At 11pm the organizers had canceled Sunday – the site was so beaten up by the weather it would not be able to host traffic the next day.

We came back the next morning, through towns with no power, to pick up the little bit we had left.

Traffic getting home was an adventure due to areas of flooding or no power, but we lost none of our inventory. Just another poor tent.

Which we are still trying to replace. If you can spare a moment and/or a dollar or two, please take a look at our Go Fund Me page. Any little bit helps!