J'adore Oscar of Nouveau Orleans.

This blog post is dedicated to the famous Oscar of New Orleans.   His booth is always surrounded by the prettiest French ladies, and everyone in Montbeliard says "bonjour" to him on the streets.  He is famous.  A few days ago I had the pleasure of watching him feed the animals at the "Mini Ferme".  Even the animals love Oscar!

Impromptu Concert

Ryan Brunet gives an impromptu concert for the folks at Soixante Six in Montbeliard.

Second Line in Montbeliard & other stuff

This was fun.

These are some freaky electronic polar bears.  Not very interesting but I felt the need to video tape them.

It is suppose to flood tomorrow.  Not quite sure what is going on.  I'm pretty sure it is no big deal. 

Je ne sais pas.

night time pictures

Papa Noel!

Louisiana Village - daytime pictures



The Louisiana Rum and Beer booth. Marjorie makes Vin Chaud (hot wine) in the
big metal pot. It is a combination of red wine, New Orleans Rum, and various
spices. Delicious!  Drink at least one a night to stay healthy.




Ryan Brunet and and some of  The Malfecteurs playing outside my booth. 
Phillipe (on the right) was nomiated for a Grammy the other day!

  

Louisiana state flags line the Cajun Village area

cool trees




 

poupee voodoo!

Poupee Voodoo!  My chalet neighbor, Annie, decided to sell these voodoo dolls so she could have some extra inventory.   Little did she know, they would be her best seller.  I hear people saying, "Poupee Voodoo!!!" all day.  One customer has come back several times, reporting to Annie how well the doll is working. 

I also have voodoo earrings, which I now call "poupee voodoo earrings".  I finally sold my first pair yesterday.   My other "hot" sellers are my alligator earrings (eye roll) and music note earrings.  People point at the Louisiana pendants and ask me, "Why did you cut out a boot?".  The crab and crawfish necklaces also seem to creep people out. 

The market has been really slow.  It supposedly picks up as it gets closer to Christmas.  It is somewhat excruciating sitting in the chalet all day in the freezing cold temperatures.  I just looked out the window, and the river is frozen, so I guess today will be another cold one. 

Here is a video of the musicians we are staying with.  They are all very awesome.  You may recognize some people in the background.

Skippy

This is Skippy.  He was my first sale of the day at 9:00.  He was extremely intoxicated.  He purchased a pair of alligator earrings.  He then approached Megan, and asked her to open the little bag so he could put them on.  This is what happened......

more pics again

Just finished walking back from my first day of the market.   It snowed all night and the walk outside to the market was beautiful.  The market was kind of slow, probably because it was very cold and snowed almost all day.  It is suppose to be a little "warmer" tomorrow.   

The walk back to the apartments today was fun!  Well at least I thought it was fun.  The route home involves some hills and bridges.  People were slipping and sliding all over the place.  Someone slid backward down an icy hill (I will not mention their name for privacy purposes.).  No one was hurt. I thought it was really funny.   I was laughing so hard I almost didn't maket it up the hill myself.

I took pictures of the chalets today.




Annie with All Tied up and Edie Varnado with Camp Topisaw



Margo Rosa's Booth.  She is my neighbor and she is
really hilarious.  I have enjoyed meeting her.  She has
been doing Jazz Fest for a million years.



Joshua Lee, it is weird taking a picture of a photographer.



Oscar of New Orleans. He is famous.



Forrest working on the Montbeliard Sans Soucci Gallery.  Forrest speaks
French and he has really helped us communicate with the festival
coordinators.  He also likes playing in the snow.



Meghan Barra and her chalet.  I need to get
closer pictures of her work, because it is very beautiful.

More Pictures



It snowed last night, and all day today!

I scraped the snow off this sign.  While taking a picture of it.....

these friendly city workers wanted to be in the picture too. 
These are some of the guys that set up the millions of Xmas Lights all over the city.
The people of Montbeliard are very nice.

Today, I finished the interior of my chalet, but I still haven't put the
 jewelry on the  display fixtures yet.   It was a little difficult because
it was snowing so hard and I was accumulating rather large snow drifts
in my booth!  The festival starts tomorrow at 10:30AM, so I have to get up very 
early to catch up on some stuff.

 I also have to practice my numbers tonight, so I'm signing off!



First few Days in Montbéliard

This will be very brief and informal for those of you wanting to see pics from Montbéliard.  The last 3 days have been hectic and crazy (in a good way most of the time).  I am staying in a large apartment with several other artists, musicians, chefs, and festival coordinators.    The festival does not start until Saturday, so we have been unpacking, decorating and getting to know each other.  I have also been practicing my extremely bad French on the poor locals, when I get lost. 


Last night the cajun band arrived from Lafayette. They played in the dining room til 3am and it was very, very fun.





Yesterday I was assigned to my chalet, and today I began setting up the interior.

 

Here is a view from my apartment window, and a castle/museum that I pass on the way to the market.





more pictures coming soon