Fair Day Wrap

Fair Day is over and I’m back to the daily grind of reality. It’s taken me a couple of days to recover from the event, but it was all so so worth it. Given the lead-up to this event, I thought it was only fitting to give you a full run down of the weekend!

Instead of getting up at 4 in the morning and face a daunting 1.5 hour drive, this year I decided to head into the city the night before and stay in a nearby hotel. Coincidentally, I stayed at the Ibis Hotel – rather fitting considering I have written about the Black Ibis Cult in my Miscreant series, and I’ve released my range of pride ibis! The real reason I stayed here though was because it was super cheap (and not too nasty).

Last time I did Fair Day, my bump in was something like 5:30am. This year, it was 8:30, so I managed to get some sleep before hand. The only thing I didn’t like about the Ibis was the acoustics (or lack thereof). Every slight move or rustle was audible and kept waking me up. Next time if I stay there again I’ll be taking my earplugs!

On the morning of the big day, I indulged in some Maccas for brekky before heading off to the event. Knowing that I would be there for approx 10 hours by myself, I ate a bacon and egg muffin without cheese, and ended up throwing the coffee out as I couldn’t trust that they used lactose free milk instead of normal milk. The last thing I needed was to have to duck to the loo and have to queue up!

Around 8:15am we headed off to the event. Silly me though – one of the comms I received said Sydney Park instead of Victoria Park, so I ended up at the wrong place! Luckily my chauffeur knew exactly where to go and we got there on time. I set up my stall as best I could by myself and got ready to rumble.

The day turned out to be boiling hot and super dusty. I had to regularly wipe down the dust from the stock and keep the table clean. Every now and then people sat their frozen cokes down on the table and it left wet rings of dirt. I definitely didn’t want this to get on the books!

This event had been cancelled previously because of Covid-19. Given the multiple lockdowns over the last 2 years and the lack of queer events, I think everyone was super excited to get out of the house and come celebrate. Event capacity was 60,000 which was maintained for most of the day.

My next-stall-neighbors had a popular stall. Yes, those are dildos behind me…ceramic dildos made on a pottery wheel by a lovely lady named Amy who has a studio in Canberra. I would have loved to buy one, but I was there to try and make money, not spend money haha. Still, my birthday is coming up…
Check them out HERE!
As I said above, the day was super hot. Luckily I got to catch up with several friends through the day, and one of them brought mea frozen coke. I had 2 x 2lt bottles of water that I was sipping at all day, but still it wasn’t enough to cool me down. I’m so grateful for Em and Pia for bringing me the cold drink.

I also mentioned above that it was dusty. Once the clock ticked over to 6pm, I packed everything up and we high-tailed it out of there. As soon as I got back to the hotel, I hopped in the shower and washed off all that dust. I blew my nose, and without no word of a lie, I had black snot from all of the dust up my nose. Even my ears had dust in them!

I did sell some books and stickers, and even some pins which was super exciting! I made just enough to break even and buy a fancy breakfast the next day. The money was never my reason for going, though. Being able to meet new people and chat to people face-to-face is priceless, and I did get to meet some amazing people. I also made some new industry contacts which was so invaluable.

Fair Day is such an amazing experience and I feel like I got so much out of it. I have big ideas for next year and have been thinking non stop about my plans for my stall. I expect to have The Final Realm out by then, and possibly Tysion’s story if my release schedule permits. I’m also hoping to get stuck into the rewrite of Catalogue of Disaster and make it a full-length novel on even par with Beneath the Grandstand.

I would like to thank all those fabulous people who stopped by and had a chat that day. I’m so looking forward to hearing if those who bought my books enjoyed them. And if you’re reading this, please do not hesitate to reach out and let me know what you think!

Stay safe peeps <3
Much love,
~Amex~