BransonCon 2019
BransonCon is a brand new comics convention being held at the Branson Convention Center in Branson, Missouri over the weekend of March 8-10, 2019. Because I knew the venue from the times Visioncon had been held at it, I anticipated that the convention could draw a crowd of a reasonable size. It was a period where we really needed an event, especially since Indiana Comic Con had moved from spring to Labor Day weekend for this year. However, because funds were short, we decided to buy only two booths and pare back some of our less well-performing merchandise.
Because of the distance, we set out on the Tuesday before the convention. When I bought our booths, I'd assumed that I had plenty of time to get my health issues resolved and I would be back to my normal levels of energy and strength. I hadn't realized just how much wait would be involved in getting to each appointment, and as a result I had a diagnosis -- Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland -- but still hadn't gotten to anyone who could actually prescribe me the necessary treatment. So I had to go while miserable and run down.
As a result, it took me what felt like forever to haul all our personal belongings out to the van on Tuesday morning in the bitter cold that had suddenly descended upon the area. We were running late to get to the lunch at the church, but as it turned out, they were having delays of their own and hadn't started serving yet when we arrived.
After we'd eaten, we set off on the first leg of our journey to Branson. We had a scary moment when we stopped at the gas station at the Oakwood exit and my feet slipped on ice as I was climbing back into the van. Luckily I landed on my feet and didn't do myself any serious injury. We also stopped in Champaign to make some purchases. We got to my dad's place in good time, but it still took longer than planned to get our belongings into the house. After supper I was able to get the laundry done and our meals cooked for the weekend, but we were still pushing things.
On Wednesday we got up and had breakfast, thinking that we'd have plenty of time. However, getting everything back out took longer than anticipated, and we ended up leaving my dad's place way late. Then it just seemed to take longer at every stop we made along the way, whether it was for gas or just to take a break and stretch a little at a rest area. By the time we finally got to Springfield, Missouri, I was fighting weariness and it was getting quite dark.
We had been planning to stay the night with a friend, but because she has medical issues and my husband had caught a cold, we didn't want to risk exposing her to his germs. So we got a room at a hotel using loyalty rewards points, and we called and talked to her once we got safely in. Then we had supper and I got a little writing done before we turned in for the night.
The next morning we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast and then loaded out. I was moving so pitifully slowly that it was a good thing we asked for a late checkout, because we missed the deadline for the regular checkout. Just a few minutes, but enough that we could've been charged for a second night's stay.
Then we drove down to Branson and got checked into the hotel where we've been staying the past several years. The staff recognized us and were willing to bend some rules to let us pay cash at the end of our stay. They were also glad to offer us some extra pillows to prop up aching feet.
Once we got our personal possessions into the room, we decided we were tired enough we both needed a nap before we loaded our merchandise in. Then we drove over to the convention center and discovered that there would be no getting around paying for parking by arriving super-early, before the booth was staffed. The convention center had installed gates on both entrance and exit, with automated parking payment systems.
However, the convention staff had gotten a back way opened for vendors and artists to come in to load, so we didn't have to pay for that day's parking. I was able to get the van backed up onto the ramp and started hauling stuff in. However, I was moving so slowly that I got a talking-to from the dockmaster, who wanted us in and out a lot faster than I was able to. I explained that I had a medical condition which was slowing me down, and shortly afterward I was able to get some help to speed the process, especially with the heaviest items, which I simply wasn't up to lifting. However, we had a very close call when one of the helpers didn't realize that our cart was our personal property and was going to take it back with the con-supplied carts. Fortunately I was able to rescue it in time, and I put a new label on it to make it clear that this was a personal cart belonging to us.
After I moved the van to regular parking, I got to work building our display structures. We didn't need to build near as many with the smaller setup, but I was working so slowly that I was way behind when they announced they were closing for the night. There was nothing to do but gather our belongings and head back to the hotel. We had supper and I did a little writing before we turned in for the night.
On Friday we got up and had the hotel's complimentary breakfast. Then we headed back over to the convention center to finish setting up. Because we arrived during setup, we were able to get in through the back entrance Fortunately, several different people helped us get set up, so we were actually able to finish our setup a few hours after the doors opened instead of struggling all day long.
However, even after we did get finished setting up, we had utterly pitiful sales. A lot of the time I was just sitting there trying not to fall asleep sitting up, because there was almost nobody in the aisles. This was not exactly the sort of attendance they had promised in their promotional materials.
When the vendor hall closed for the night, we discovered that the convention center staff had closed off the back entrance -- and we had no ticket to be let out at the gate. For a scary moment I thought we were trapped, until we drove around a little and found another exit, probably part of an employee parking lot, and we were able to get out. We headed back to our hotel room to have supper. Then I did a little writing before we turned in for the night.
On Saturday we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast and headed back to the convention center. This time we actually had to pay at the gate to get into the parking lot. At least the pouring rain had slacked up when we arrived, but it was still very cold and damp to have to struggle to walk to the vendor hall. We put up some signs and did some other things to finalize our setup and give it a more finished appearance.
Sales were a little better, but Friday's sales were so poor that it was a very low bar. We still had so many periods when nothing was happening and I was fighting drowsiness that we ended the day way behind where we needed to be. But there was nothing to do but go back to our hotel room to get supper and try to get a little writing done before turning in for the night. I knew that we needed to get to bed early because Daylight Saving Time was coming back and taking away an hour of our sleep.
On Sunday we got up and had the hotel's complimentary breakfast before returning to the convention center for our final day of sales. I finally got a chance to do a little walking around the vendor hall floor, but not nearly enough to see the whole place before I had to scurry back to our setup to do business.
However, we weren't getting nearly enough traffic to generate any appreciable sales. We'd pretty much decided we weren't coming back, at least until several years had passed and they'd had a chance to grow to a size that made it worth the trip. So we decided to start packing right after lunch, in hopes of being done reasonably early. However, we weren't even up to the t-shirts when the vendor hall closed.
We were able to get some help packing, but they had to leave before we were finished breaking down the store fixtures. When we asked the con staff about getting help to load out, we were told that was our problem. I struggled to take some of the lighter stuff, but it was clear I was going to exhaust myself long before everything was out. I told one of the convention center staff what we had been told, and that I had a medical condition that meant it was a problem beyond our power to fix by our own devices.
Suddenly help was found, including a strong young man who could lift the heavy boxes of t-shirts into the van and several people to bring cartloads of stuff out to the loading dock. I had to get the lighter stuff up and into the van, which meant a whole lot of getting in and out that was tricky in my depleted state. But we actually managed to get everything out by 7PM and were back to the hotel room not much later than when we'd been getting back during the convention. We had supper and I did a little writing before turning in for the night.
On Monday morning we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast, at which I told the cook good-bye and that I'd miss her and everyone else who made our stay wonderful every year. Then I hauled our personal belongings out to the van so we could check out. The process felt like pushing through molasses, and we needed the late checkout.
Since my husband was over his cold and my medical issues were autoimmune, we stopped by our friend's place to visit on the way through Springfield and ended up staying longer than we'd intended. It was a good thing we had almost no cash, having used it to pay our hotel bill, because the bank was closed by the time we got to St. Louis. Then we had to push through Illinois in the dark, with me fighting weariness and caffeine not doing all that much to help.
I was very glad to get to my dad's place and be able to pull in and shut down. We carried stuff in, but it was far too late to get any laundry done. We just ate supper and I scribbled a little more on my writing before we turned in for the night.
On Tuesday I woke up so stiff and sore that I could barely move. Just getting out to the kitchen to eat breakfast was a struggle, and even a hot shower didn't loosen me up that much. So it took forever to get our personal belongings back out to the van, even with Dad helping me. Worse, I discovered that I had more laundry than time to do it, so I had to pick the most important things to wash and the rest would just have to go back dirty.
We got on the road a lot later than we wanted to, and as a result were quite late getting back home. I was tired and just glad to get safely into the driveway and shut down. Getting our personal belongings back inside was no fun, but we had to get it done.
Copyright 2019 by Leigh Kimmel
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Last updated June 24, 2019.