I’m always amazed by the response to the little event I dreamed up just a few months after launching Indie Untangled in 2014. I had an idea to do something with my new website at Rhinebeck. My first thought was to have a few dyers selling yarn in the back of Gigi Trattoria (ha!), maybe giving short lectures about their creative process. Then that changed to a dozen vendors in half of the ballroom at the Best Western in Kingston. I called it a trunk show because I didn’t want to make it seem bigger than I thought it would be, but when I counted more than 200 attendees that night, I knew I was onto something.
This year, the fourth annual Rhinebeck Trunk Show drew more than 1,000 people to check out the yarn, project bags, stitch markers and accessories, supporting over two dozen small, women-owned businesses.
Though I had a wonderful group of volunteers monitoring lines and helping out vendors, I know the crowd was very difficult to navigate this year and that many people weren’t able to shop comfortably. Since Friday, I have been researching alternative venues and talking to vendors, attendees and event planners on how to best manage the crowds. Rest assured that there will be changes next year that will benefit everyone.
I did have to laugh when the woman at one of the venues I contacted told me I wouldn’t have to worry about parking because I would probably get shoppers trickling in and out. You don’t know knitters, I told her.
But while we are very… enthusiastic, I’ve found that knitters are also the most generous, kindhearted people I have ever met. Consider the response when Maria of Tuskenknits learned after she got home to Washington State that her payment processing app hadn’t collected the card numbers of more than half her customers that night. A ton of knitters responded to her small Skein Sponsor campaign, and she received an outpouring of donations to help her in case she can’t reach most of the customers who weren’t charged.
By the way, if you did purchase yarn from Tuskenknits on Friday, please check your credit/debit card statements and see if you were charged. If not, please contact Maria.
Since my phone was a bit occupied during the show, I unfortunately wasn’t able to take any photos of the event, but, as always, it was captured beautifully on Instagram. Here are some of my favorite images:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bagp2OtA1I2/?tagged=indieuntangled2017
https://www.instagram.com/p/BafrqI7gsUs/?tagged=indieuntangled2017
https://instagram.com/p/BagpmKngOcz/
2 Responses
Wow what a show! We are just finally recovering now. It’s an always an inspirational and humbling event; so nice to see all our fiber friends in person. The selection of yarns is always amazing. I wanted to bring everything home to put in my stash! Thank you so much for hosting it. We know it’s a huge amount of work.
One day I will make it here, either as a vendor or as a shopper. It really looks like so much fun!