I'm back from my weekend in Arkansas

     I had an absolutely wonderful time crafting with my sisters, niece and daughter - 3 wholes days of crafting, pure heaven!
     Now I have to buckle down and get tons of stock available for my craft shelf at The Craft Shop because the biggest Arts and Crafts festival in the state of Missouri is rapidly approaching.  Here in Independence, at the historic square is the Santa Cali Gon Festival which draws more than 225,000.00 people and the shops and street vendors sell more during that festival then all the month of December!
     My sister, Pam, asked me what Santa Cali Gon meant and I had to admit that I had no idea.  Off to Google I went and 5 minutes later found out that Santa Cali Gon was once called "The Three Trails" and it represents the Santa Fe Trail, The California Trail and the Oregon Trail - hence, "Santa-Cali-Gon".
     I sure that this year will be just as wonderful as the past years for the festival, street vendors, international food, beer garden, Arts and Crafts, the Carnival, the music and everything else - including the inability to find parking.  
     Here is a photo of 2010's Festival, this was taken at night and I think it was Carnival night.

     The 2nd photo is at one of the music stages, pretty nice music and completely free. I Think that there are 3 different stages.