🎆 Market Recap: Melting Plastic & Bookish Magic – July 3rd at Calvert County Fairgrounds
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Whew. What. A. Day.
The July 3rd market was hot — like “why did I even wash my hair this morning” hot — but despite the heat and a few melting surprises, it turned into one of my favorite events yet.
🔥 Setup, Sunshine & Oops… Melting
We got everything set up bright and early: tent secured, books stacked, shelves loaded, spinner ready. The booth looked amazing.
Then the sun hit.
Turns out, direct sunlight + 3D printed items = a very dramatic lesson in material science. Some of my poor little signs started curling like they were trying to escape.
Hence the fact I clearly need to follow my own disclaimer: don’t leave your 3D printed shelf décor in direct sunlight too long. 😅
Still — even with a few warped corners, the turnout was amazing.
📚 Bookish Conversations & Community Vibes
One of my favorite things about these events is getting to connect with readers face-to-face. Whether someone made a purchase or just stopped to chat, every conversation was genuinely appreciated.
I met so many locals who were just as obsessed with books as I am. The kind of people who walk up, see a shelf sign that says “TBR” or a spicy sticker, and immediately start gushing about their current read. That energy? I live for it.
Whether you bought something or just talked books with me for five minutes — thank you. That’s why I do this.
📈 Bestsellers from the Booth
The Book MVPs of the day were:
The Thrashers by Julie Soto (hockey romance supremacy)
The Pacific Shore Series by Sarah A. Bailey
Court of Ravens Series by Liv Zander
Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier — a must for thriller fans
I’ll be restocking these ASAP and adding a few new titles to the lineup. Also refreshing some other items and making sure we're good to go!
The SUN!!! Had to get rid of all my dragon bookmarks because the sun warped them all, but luckily everything else survivied.
🛍️ Vendor Vibes, Family Support & Small Biz Love
I also got to meet some incredible vendors — it’s such a cool feeling being part of a local market community like this. Everyone’s working hard, bringing their craft to life, and cheering each other on between booth setups and sunburns.
And shoutout to the friends and family who stopped by or hung out while I worked — whether it was for moral support, wrangling kids, or just chatting between customer waves, it made the long, hot day so much more fun. I truly couldn’t do this without my people.
To everyone who stopped by: thank you for supporting small businesses. It really means the world.
📍 Next Market: July 5th!
Yep — I’ll be back at it tomorrow for another market! If you missed the July 3rd event or just want to come chat books (or laugh at my half-melted signage), come say hi.
Catch you soon,
Jess @ Read & Rally Studio