A Weekend of Fairs

This past weekend was a BUSY one in Los Angeles. Two of the biggest craft fairs, Renegade and Unique L.A. were both held downtown on Saturday and Sunday. I thought it was strange that they were on the same dates since many of the vendors tend to do both, but Amy and I decided to take advantage and make an entire day of it- ready to blow some dough and support fellow local artists and crafters. We started with fabric shopping at Michael Levine's (supplies for my own crafting), moved onto Unique L.A. at the California Mart Building, grabbed lunch at the famous Philippe's, and finished the day at the park for Renegade. We were both exhausted by the end of the day, but it's always great to get inspired AND have a chance to enjoy some beef stew ;-)

There were too many things I loved to even count, let alone take pictures of, but here's a taste of some things I liked at Unique. SO CUTE! 

The treats in the cafeteria were particularly compelling this year. Just look at those displays!!! I didn't taste any because I was saving my appetite for Philippe's, but they looked YUMMY!

Philippe's is ALWAYS crowded, but they are a well-oiled machine that runs flawlessly, so you are never in line that long... trust me, it's worth it! We ordered a beef dip with swiss (to share), macaroni salad, beef stew, giant pickles, and Arnold Palmers to drink. Grand total? less than $10 each. Can't beat that price! After lunch it was on to the next one...

The great part about Renegade is, although it's smaller than Unique, it's free to park and free admission (which means more money to spend on THINGS!). As expected, A LOT of repeat vendors. We lucked out with a beautiful day- almost too hot out- for wandering around the Los Angeles Historic State Park. 

The best part of Renegade was the free photobooth! I love me a good photobooth and it's even better when you don't have to dig for $1 bills :-) magbooth had fun props (always a plus) and a super-cute booth that printed pictures so fast they were pretty much ready before you could pull back the curtain to exit. They also post their photos online so you can grab a digital copy if you need to. Fantasgreat.

We were so exhausted after the long day, I had to go home for a super-long nap.