It was drizzling a bit when I got to the show, but not enough to require an umbrella. There was also a line that stretched outside the building and not many parking spots available. Parking got worse. When I left, someone followed me to my car so she could snatch my spot.
There were three types of exhibits: open stands, where you could examine and touch the jewelry, closed
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| click to enlarge |
cases where you needed to ask the person running the booth to show you items, and mixed, like at a typical department store jewelry department. As you can imagine, expensive items were in the closed cabinets. This meant I didn't have to look at all 350 or so exhibits ~ just the open ones. Behind glass meant out of my budget.
There was also a section where a serious-looking man blocked the entrance: wholesale only. Glancing in, it looked to be about a quarter of the size of the retail section.
From purchasing my ticket (with a coupon!) to buying a snack to leaving, it was all "ladies" with four exceptions: there was one "ma'am" (not unexpected), one "you guys" (acceptable), one no-title-at-all (that's OK too), and one "girls"(!). And that
was unexpected!
It was almost all jewelry. There were some booths with other accessories. Scarves were common. There was one guy selling dresses. (more on him in a moment)
I was looking at framed stamps at one booth. The woman said "the stamps are $10." I said "but... it says thirty-two cents." She gave me this wide grin and kept it up, staring at me for several seconds. I'd love to know what was going through her mind.
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| Vendor to my left |
I was pretty dressed up, but hey, it's Sunday and women go to church and then to the jewelry show, right? I wasn't the dressiest. I saw at least one woman in a suit and some of the saleswomen were nicely dressed. Perhaps other shoppers figured I was taking a break from a booth. Perhaps I don't care what they thought, as long as they kept it to themselves and treated me cordially.
The show had an Indian slant, with heavy, brightly coloured jewelry. The patrons leaned Indian too, with many older women in saris and many younger ones in dresses over leggings or pants.
The guy was selling dresses was sure I was buying. He explained that the style is to wear them over leggings. I really liked the dress style and some had very vibrant colours and patterns. They looked well-made; they came from India and had European sizing. I think he said I was a 38.
I asked why they wore them over leggings/pants since the skirts were not very short and lined. He said it was very stylish. He held one up to me and I called for Charity to take a picture. He then grabbed another and held that up. I took that one too and Charity took another picture. (They did not allow pictures so I didn't take others; just these few I could sneak in.) I readily admit they were very pretty (there was a royal blue dress that looked fantastic) and very well made and reasonably priced, but still outside of my current budget. He worked hard to sell me a dress and I hated to leave empty-handed.
I'd guess 95% of the visitors were women. A few guys were wandering on their own; a few were dragged along by their SOs. There were very few kids there (under 8 were discouraged).
I had some coffee and considered using the ladies' but decided against it due to the constant stream of women going in and out of each restroom. Don't get me wrong ~ no-one gave the slightest hint of discomfort or even an odd glance. I was just another woman enjoying the show but I do like to not make others uncomfortable if I can help it ~ even if that discomfort is only in my own mind.
So I waited.
