If you let the clouds and early showers keep you away from Buckroe Beach last weekend, you missed out on the 2nd Annual Buckroe Beach Blast sponsored by LINK of Hampton Roads. The event was an invitation to enjoy some family fun and to promote community awareness. LINK The good and the bad. Blast did a great job of showcasing some local entrepreneurs with good ideas and decent products. Get behind them. A little support can really go a long way for these people. Catch them on the way up. If you like what you see, just make a point to mention it somewhere. If you’re in the market, seek out your neighbors first.
I was impressed with the production more than I was with the content. I was expecting something a little more….flea market-y. Keeping in mind that this is not a Disney show or an Off-Broadway endeavor, and considering the format, budget and resources, I can appreciate the effort of those involved and skill of the leadership.
It was very well laid out, pleasing to the eye and functional. Horseshoed out from the park entrance with the stage at the center and the beer garden slightly left. Clean, precise and more professional than you would expect. I’ve been to more than a few events at this venue, and inexperience shows itself immediately. LINK has obviously headhunted some decent talent. The booths at Blast were as cohesive and relative to topic as the subject allows. Top tier vendors don’t exactly beat the doors down for tent space in a production like this and the temptation to allow snake handlers and sales of cheap knock-offs is often hard to resist. The field must be populated to expect attendance and attendance is paramount to awareness. Without awareness, no one would know where to volunteer or send a check. LINK obviously took the high road, the $10 cheesesteak truck was not invited, beer was only $5(!) and I wasn't inundated with stories of one-kidneyed homeless guys rocking 2nd hand canes while suffering from PTSD, and how they lost their jobs to Al Qaida because they were too busy saving little old ladies from being dateraped by Amway while building wheelchair ramps as they limped through 4 foot of snow. Uphill. Both ways. Vetting when choices are already so limited, takes guts. In a profit driven world, the only way to prove to me that you’re not a wolf in charity clothing, is to lose money and the 2014 Buckroe Beach Blast definitely accomplished that.
The lack of attendance also highlights the ability of Parks and Recreation to take a ball in the numbers and have it bounce off their chest so many times that some of us have become suspicious. I can’t help but to question the reasoning behind Parks and Rec’s refusal to post a simple sign of upcoming events. Just a cheap, plastic lettered sign, for informational purposes.
We all know that dogs are not allowed at the park after Memorial Day, that grilling is prohibited, there are even signs describing the sand cleaning protocols, but not one attempt to inform people of a scheduled concert or event. I’ve been lobbying for 2 years on this. Signs are placed in front of every public school, city jail and ABC store. Why should a charity event like this depend on walk-by traffic? I live right across the street and had no idea this was scheduled until I saw it out my kitchen window. At lot of effort has been put into minimizing the attendance here. I’m not lobbying for neon
or anything, but a piece of paper stapled to a stick in the ground would have been nice. Even the DMV puts up a sign.
ANYWAY,…I’ll continue this in another post
After a rough showing last year, due to similar weather, I was pleasantly surprised by the rate of vendor participation and content of the production. Usually, these things turn out to be sub-par with a lot of no-shows and empty booths set up by ho-hum venders, hawking ho-hum services, but what I found at Blast, were mainly women that had original ideas and done something about them. They had put the time, effort and cost into protoyping and marketing. They weren't there to sell their handmade goods as folk art or tacky souvenirs. These are niche items that just need the exposure. The world has gotten smaller with the internet and the global market is always waiting for the next hot item, close 1 deal out of every 10,000 leads and you’re still a millionaire. People are definitely getting less afraid of their hidden entrepreneur and the limb that women have historically been afraid to climb out on, doesn’t look so shaky anymore.
Product Showcasing Booths
peace.love.swap. Organizes community events where you bring in all of your childrens outgrown clothes for others to “shop” and earn yourself a bag to do the same. Brilliantly simple! Giving to the Goodwill is nice but trading is better.
http://plspeninsula.com/registration
I Like Turtles.
But I love beer! Although LINK gears this event towards women, someone was smart enough to include DAD. This is the same way I tolerate Chuck e.Cheese.T. Da ‘Nean Custom Design Shoes & Accessories shoesbynizzo@gmail.com
Bedazzling a pair of 5” heels at this level MUST be expensive.
Beach House Bottlecap Art
Paul/Pam Cochrane
Look closely. These are beer bottle caps that have been pounded flat and applied to these familiar beach adornments. This is not the same as making a turtle out of an origami’d beer can, this is fresh and tasteful.
Something like this may appear tacky if it was on your hotel room’s wall in Iowa, but this is Buckroe Beach and it perfectly compliments the atmosphere. beachhousebottlecapart.com
Uncle Dave’s Kettle Corn. An absolute hit in my house. Not too sweet, not too salty.I buy popcorn for my kids all the time at these things and never expect too much of it. Usually stale and overpriced. Uncle Dave’s is an original idea and surprisingly good, I specifically noticed that the kernals are twice the size as the market standard and that implies care and quality. Nobody pays extra for quality ingredients without a reason. He was proud enough to put his name on it and I even saw a trailer in the parking lot labeled Uncle Dave’s as well. Definitely marketable. Franchised as a one man operation in every grocery store, mall and Wal-mart. Great potential.
$5 beer is better than no beer at all!! I would’ve paid $8!
Buckroe Beach Blast had some HONORABLE MENTIONS as well….ORGANYC
100% organic cotton feminine hygiene
Thank you so very much for these. I see that they have wings. Sweet!
Compliments of cotton and product innovators everywhere!
Along with the same ,tired, Not So HONORABLE MENTIONS
HAVE YOU TRIED THAT
CRAZY
WRAP
THING?
IT’SEASY IT’SAFFORDABLE IT’SFUN
ASK ME HOW! WTF?
Yes, this is a real ad given to me at the Beach Blast.
D. Pulley
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