RWR Innovations Special Events and vendor shows.

Past Months Completed Shows and Special Events:

Barnyard Days 1st & 2nd of October Neosho, MO

Keosauqua Fall Festival 8 & 9 October Keosauqua, IA

Kids Expo                                  15 October                  Plattsmouth, NE

Fall Arts & Craft Boutique            22 October                  Omaha, NE

The Kansas Kids Closet               28 & 29 October         Hutchison, KS

Free Birthday Chronicle                1,2 & 3 November        When you visit our store. ($5.00 value.)
                                                                                 8404 Q Street, Omaha NE 68127

Cowboy Christmas Gift Show        5 & 6 November           North Platte NE

Palisades Holiday Boutique          12th of November         Omaha, NE

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony            18th of November        Our store at 4 PM. 8404 Q Street, Omaha

Remote Broadcast                       18th of November        Our store 3-5 PM - KOOO FM 101.9 - the Big 'O"

Holiday Magic 27th of November Ralston, NE - Helping with Santa's arrival.

Peddler's Market 30th of November Omaha, NE (5-9 PM) St Thomas More church

This was our first time to setup our new photo DVD product outside of Omaha. 18,000 people attended last year and more were projected this year. It seemed like a good opportunity to work the bugs out of our DVD program. And, we would be helping to raise funds for those affected by breast cancer through the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, which provides direct financial support for area families.

Since Neosho is only a few hours from Omaha; we decided to get a good nights sleep and leave at 9 AM. I spent Thursday afternoon stuffing everything into my car. The only place left for our luggage was behind our seats, every other nook and cranny was taken.

All went well until we were diverted from I29 and sent off to the East on a detour. This was because of the flooding that is still playing havoc with travel in Iowa. We followed the detour which seemed to be sending us into never land. Since I had installed my GPS in our car, we decided to let it take over. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The GPS starting sending us down dusty gravel roads which, after a while, turned into a lake.

We backed out of the first lake, tried another road and the same thing happened. Apparently no one told the GPS about the flooding. We finally found our way back to the official detour (after spending over an hour on gravel roads) and completed our trip to Neosho. (We spoke to vendors at Barnyard Days who either had the same experience or who knew someone who had the same thing happen to them.)

We arrived in Neosho around 5 PM, checked into our hotel and then drove to Barnyard Days to check out where we would be setting up for the weekend. Everyone knew where it was, but, being from out of town we didn't. But, we finally found it. The great thing was, Kristen is a joy to travel with, and took everything that happened to us in stride. She takes her role as navigator (when she isn't driving) very seriously. I also feel very safe with her in the "pilots seat", even though, at times, I feel like I am traveling on "Air Kristen" at 35,000 feet breaking the sound barrier!

Barnyard Days was in the middle of nowhere. We left our hotel traveling 55 miles an hour. Turned onto highway 71 and kicked it up to 70 for a few miles. Right turn at Iris road and back down to 35 mph. Eventually we were on a narrow, hole filled road that led to the Circle R Ranch, where Barnyard Days was held. This road was an adventure by itself. Very narrow, curves, inclines and a few drivers who thought they were practicing for the Indy 500!

We arrived around 5:30 PM and were shown the barn and our slot in the barn. We were assigned #3. It had been a long day and we decided to go back to our hotel, get a decent nights sleep and be back at 7AM to setup. In the morning we would have until 8AM and then our car had to be removed and parked in the vendor parking lot (a field with a fence and a gate.) At least parking was free for everyone.

Breakfast at the Best Western was part of our package and excellent. Our room was quiet and had all the hot water you could ever want and the cost per night was very reasonable

We arrived at the farm 15 minutes early and were allowed to drive in and start setting up.

By 8 AM we had most of our setup done. Due to space limitations we had to make changes in how we planned to do the show; but that was one of our goals in doing this show. The more people we spoke to and gave demonstrations to, the more efficient we would have to become.

We checked with other vendors and found that due to the remote location very few of the vendors were able to swipe credit cards. We checked our system and it could not get an Internet connection, so we had the same problem. Will be checking on that to see if we can prevent that from happening again.

At 9 AM we were setup and ready to go. Lots and lots of people walked by our demonstration and most of the other demonstrations. Some stopped and we made a few sales. The other vendors were very friendly and we all helped and encouraged each other. Many people were excited about our product. Unfortunately most of them are holding on to their money and aren't ready to buy. (The food vendors did great and offered reasonably priced meals and treats.) Everything was within walking distance of our booth.

As usually happens, Murphy paid us a visit. I checked the system and made sure everything was working before we left, and, we had all the cables and other attachments. (We also have a 47 pound color laser printer that we take with us to print our labels and DVD sleeves.) When we turned on the computer, there was no sound. Sound is critical to giving a customer a proper demonstration of our personalized photo DVDs!

Kristen called tech support and two techs were unable to diagnose our problem and tell her how to fix the computers audio; since they couldn't dial in to the computer and look at it remotely. The best they came up with was to buy a cheap sound card and install it.

At the end of the show Saturday, I drove to Joplin and bought a sound card. (no computer stores in Neosho and Wal-Mart doesn't carry sound cards.) Office Depot had one left.

When I got back to the hotel and installed it, it wouldn't work. They sold me a sound card that was so old it didn't work with Windows 7! I uninstalled it and decided to see if I could fix the original problem (I used to be a computer tech.)

Next morning, another good breakfast and we headed back to the ranch. Had a nice day. Kristen took some breaks and took a lot of photos. We got to pet a Greyhound. I got to pet a rooster, a sheep, a lamb a miniature horse and other assorted animals. it was an interesting day and we met a lot of very interesting people.

Music was provided by William Adkins; both live and recorded. He was a joy to listen too!

Barnyard Days supports Breast Cancer research. We spoke to that organization and others about doing fund raising for them, via the Internet. We also made contact with other organizations and individuals that may consider us for their fund raising activities next year.

We didn't make a lot of sales, but we learned a lot about what to do and what not to do.

We got everything packed and had a good trip back. This time we followed the posted detour signs!

Kristen was busy the weekend of this show, so I went alone. The show promoter found a local photographer, Alex Snead, a Junior at the local high school and a member of the yearbook staff. She offered to work with me for the weekend. When I spoke to her, for the first time, on the phone; she said the two magic words I was looking for - FUN WEEKEND. I knew we would get along fine.

Alex Sneed taking a picture of the Saturday morning parade at the Keosaugua Fall Festival in Keosauqua, IA.

Alex Sneed taking pictures during the Saturday morning parade.

I spent the trip listening to a historical book about Custer and the Little Big Horn. During the over 8 hours I listened I realized how ignorant I was about what happened and how shallow the movies I've seen and the history books were that I had to read in high school!

I was given an empty building with a real estate office on one side and a bar on the other side. Plenty of room to setup my display. Alex arrived at 8 AM Saturday morning. I showed her the basics of working with the computer program, hardware and the color printer. She learned fast and did everything by herself after her first lesson.

I was able to get access to the Internet thanks to the real estate agent next door, who gave me access to her wireless network. Unfortunately, according to her, our location made it difficult to get a connection. Our cell phones worked most of the time, but, my Cricket connection which we need to accept credit cards didn't. A few blocks away, which was higher in elevation, it worked fine.

Keosauqua is part of the Villages of Van Buren. Keosauqua's Fall Festival was one of many events that took place in Keosauqua this weekend. I met a lot of interesting people; took a break and enjoyed the petting zoo; had my first taste of Kettle Corn; watched a long parade that marched past our window; and got to meet Elvis.

Elvis was scheduled to perform, Saturday afternoon, across the street from us and used our store to change into his costume. He told me ALF was one of his favorite characters and he had all his shows recorded. He did a fantastic show and if you closed your eyes, he sounded just like the king.

Sunday afternoon we were treated to an antique car show which took place in front of our store.

Alex also took photos of local historical sites. I've included a couple of her photos. She told me that the underground railroad operated in the Keosauqua area.

I filled up with gas before I left Keosauqua. The pump had no place for a credit card. You filled your tank and then were trusted to go inside the store and pay the cashier. What a novel concept.

Had an uneventful trip back and finished listening to my audio book about Custer and the Little Big Horn.

Kristen wasn't feeling well so I went alone to the expo. Was still setting up when guests started arriving.

Unfortunately didn't have any time to take pictures outside before or after the expo. Got a couple inside.

October 22, 2011

Lewis & Clark Middle School
1st Annual Arts and Crafts Boutique

Arrived at 6:30 AM, 30 minutes prior to the official setup time for this event. Tom, from the event, was already there and stopped what he was doing to show me where to set up.

Everything was well organized, vendor spots were labeled and lunch was included in the cost of the show.

Unfortunately, a few days ago, things changed and 30 of the 80 vendors were assigned to the cafeteria away from the food area. It was hard to find and those of us assigned to this area suffered from a serious lack of traffic. All efforts to get people to come to our area failed.

One of the food vendors (who signed up late) was assigned to the area next to me. I finally gave up and had a piece of delicious chocolate something. Three hours later I succumbed again and had a piece of a different chocolate something. Yummy!

My main objective this year is to find out what works and what doesn’t work. I feel like Edison, who tried one thing after another and failed. So far, nothing has worked. But, I'm getting more ideas, getting the word out about my new store and website, and meeting a lot of interesting people.

I've decided to stop lugging the Photo DVD system to local shows. I'll take a monitor and a laptop and demonstrate the product. I'm printing labels and DVD inserts so I can show all 17 of the DVD cases. If someone wants a Photo DVD they can order over the Internet or come to my store.

For the rest of the local shows I'll sell music CDs, demonstrate the Photo DVDs and sell a variety of unusual books. (I tried selling books at this show and sold 42 of them.)

This will make setup and teardown much faster and easier.

More local shows are popping up and I plan to go to as many of them as I can, now that I'm not taking my full Photo DVD setup with me.

Fall Arts & Craft Boutique

Left for Hutcheson at 5:15 AM. Trip went well and it was great driving 75+ most of the way. I finished listening to "The Art of War' by Sun Tzu and started listening to Deep Black: Death Wave by Stephen Coonts.

Arrived at my motel at 11 AM. My room wasn't ready so I went to the fairgrounds and got everything setup for the 2 1/2 hours that we will be open this evening. It is for the vendors only as they get first pick at everything.

The fairgrounds were easy to find. The promoters gave us all day to setup which was great not having to hurry. They gave me a spot with lots of room, no one behind me and electricity on a column beside my table. All the vendors had plenty of room and restrooms were just a few feet away.

Wireless was available (from the fairgrounds) but I refuse to pay $9.95 a day just so I can connect to the Internet. I'll do that when I get back to my motel.

The concept here is simple. For the most part vendors (moms) have racks of clothes they no longer need and are offering them for sale to other moms with the same problem.

Thursday evening, at 4:30 PM vendors started arriving with their kids. Some of the kids are totally unsupervised (3 years old and up) and the way they are tearing around the building, unsupervised, it is just a matter of time before one or more of hits the floor and gets hurt since the floor is hard like terrazzo and unforgiving.

As much as I like kids, I had to chase them away since they were using my backgrounds and my table as hiding places for a spontaneous game of hide and seek. One of them ran through my walkway and knocked over the gold pylons. Fortunately he didn't fall and crack his head open. One went under my table and fortunately didn't get tangled in my power cables.

One three or four year old boy decided to walk right through the red ropes that are on both sides of the red carpet. I told him to stop before he hurt himself (and crashed my display.) He looked at me and took off. Then came back and struck me on the leg. His mother came out of nowhere and apologized saying she saw the whole thing. She picked up her kid and he started screaming. She went away and came back a few minutes later to speak to me. All this time the boy was looking at me like he wished he had a weapon …

Since there is no food here I stopped at Wal-Mart to buy a package of fruit to snack on during the day. It was early in the morning and I heard a lot of birds! I looked around and I felt like I was in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”; hundreds of them on everything. Saturday morning I went back again and the birds were there. I asked one of the Wal-Mart employees about them. He said they were Blackbirds and they came to the store for about 5 weeks every year and then disappeared. He guessed they like the heat coming up from the pavement until the sun comes out. Maybe this was a stopover for them on their way to somewhere else for the winter.

I decided to offer two personalized books as door prizes and will use the names I collect to begin a mailing list or an email list. Will do the same at the rest of the shows I have booked this year and see if I collect enough names to make it worthwhile. The ones who don’t win will get an email offering them a free electronic Birthday Chronicle.

Moms drop off their clothes. They are taken to specific racks, by volunteers. Payment is made at a central desk and at the end of the show the tags are sorted and each mom gets her sales. Happens three times a year here in Hutchinson.

Only one other person, one of the show sponsors, is set up as a vendor. She is selling licensed character coat racks. I bought her one and only Dora the Explorer coat rack for my grand-daughter.

This is a well attended, annual event, which takes place on Halloween at the La Vista Community Center, in La Vista, Nebraska.

I was invited along with other local vendors to setup a display and give out candy.

We were allowed to set up anytime after 3 PM with the doors opening at 5:30 PM and staying open until 7 PM.

At 5 PM kids and their escorts started lining up at the entrance. There were a lot of them! At 5:15 I went to the restroom and got into my Spiderman costume. It was a bit hit! Had a lot of people ask for photographs that they took with their cell phones. I got a lot pictures taken of me and "Mini Mi" (little Spidermen.) One youngster took a picture and I asked him if he would like one with me. He said yes and the next thing I knew his mother was wrapped around me grinning; he took a picture of us and off they went.

Unfortunately, a six foot Spiderman was more than a few of the little ones could handle. My granddaughter took one look at me and started screaming. She refused to come near me!

It was a great time for everyone and all the kids behaved themselves. They kept coming and coming until 5 minutes before 7 PM when the doors closed.

I had a Little Mermaid photo DVD running continuously on a 22" monitor which attracted a lot of attention. A few of the little girls stared at the screen mesmerized until their parents pulled them away.

In addition to trick or treating the center served over 700 free hot dogs and had a pumpkin decorating contest.

Left at 6:15 AM since this was only a 5-6 hour drive to North Platte.

While on the way I stopped and visited the Pony Express Relay Station in Gothenburg, NE. http://www.nebraskabeautiful.com/south-central-nebraska-tourism/pony-express-station-gothenburg-nebraska.html A short but important part of our history.

Checked in to my hotel and then headed to the D & N Event Center to get setup. Since this was our last out-of-town show and I assumed we would taking a van; I booked a double (10x 20') display area. Figured by now we would have figured out what worked and we would be ready for the additional room. Instead I packed as much as I could into my car and made the best of the situation.

Another vendor needed extra room, so I gave most of my extra space to them, They thanked me and bought me lunch. They were getting rid of inventory from their western store that they closed. I can almost never find jeans that are a 35 waist, they had a few pairs of 35's so I bought two.

Some of these vendors are really serious about this. Here is one of them and what they brought their stuff in.

This is interesting being in cowboy country. The spaces we are in are bordered by metal fence or metal gate material, just like on the range. Many of the guys are wearing 10 gallon hats and the ladies are working as hard as the men. I'm thinking about buying a 10 gallon hat before I leave.

Friday night I strolled around Fort Cody.

I was hoping to visit the Golden Spike Tower while here, but, the tower isn't open after I get finished with the gift show. According to history North Platte, Nebraska was according to the official website: "Why Golden Spike? Because North Platte, Nebraska is where east meets west on Union Pacific's rail line-just as east met west in Promontory Summit, Utah, when the Transcontinental Railroad was built. Both Union Pacific and Central Pacific building from Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California, respectively met and drove the golden spike to open up the west." http://www.goldenspiketower.com/TheTower.php

Was told that our building would be open to vendors at 7AM. Arrived a few minutes before 7 and found two vendors sitting in the parking lot with their lights on and motors running. (It was cold outside.) One of the vendors was sound asleep. The second one told me he was told between 7:30 and 8 AM. By the time the building was opened there were 9 vendors waiting to get in so they could get set up for the day.

Saturday afternoon a reindeer walked by my booth. Unfortunately, it was very skittish and its owner said he had to get it away from the building. Didn’t get to pet it or take a picture.

It has been quite an experience being in North Platte; and It has been very interesting observing the young “cowgirls” who are walking by my booth. They are confident and seem to be enjoying themselves. I spoke to one of the local vendors and he told me that in addition to being competent with horses and all the other chores it takes to run a ranch; they “clean up very good” when they are going out to have fun.

I asked one of the vendors (also from Omaha) what he was selling. He said “rocks.” I asked him if he meant "Pet Rocks." Here is what he was selling.

Noah and Mason Burris from the 6th grade class from Hershey, NE, roamed the show providing snacks and food deliveries. Cost was very reasonable. They were raising money for their trip to Washington, DC in June of 2012.

Noah and Mason Burris, members of the Hershey, NE 6th grade class delivered food to vendors and helped with the food concession. The profits from the concession will be used to help fund their class trip to Washington, DC in June 2012.

Everyone is very friendly in the tradition of western hospitality.

This was my most successful show; but, I still haven’t found the magic combination that will make these trips pay profitable.

Cowboy Christmas Gift Show

           All Our Products

RWR Innovations LLC      Our Privacy Policy        Our Shipping Policy
Personalized Children's Products including Books, Photo DVDs, Music CDs and Personalized Certificates
Veteran Owned - Member Ralston Area Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau
8404 Q Street
Omaha NE 68127-3603

402-592-9199 (Omaha)
877-402-7167 (Toll Free)
678-528-5017 (FAX)

Webmaster:    Ron Nixon orders@rwrinnovations.com
                           PO Box 460939
                           Papillion NE 68046-0939

                           Site Map            Last Updated        2/06/2012           Subscribe to our newsletter