That Was Bendigo Craft Alive

Last week Gemma (of Pretty Bobbins) and I drove from Canberra to Bendigo to be a part of Craft Alive‘s Bendigo event. Craft Alive had contacted me back in March to see if I’d be interested in hosting an Instagram Meet Up and I said “H-e-double-hockey-sticks to the yes!”. I was so nervous saying yes to an event like this because I didn’t want to disappoint. I know how important these regional events are, not only for the people that attend but also for the small businesses that exhibit at the events.

The craft industry is a fragile one. Craft is a luxury item and therefore when times are tough often it’s our ability to do crafts that suffer. A lot of the exhibitors travel a fair distance to be a part of an event like Craft Alive and there’s a lot of expensive involved in being able to leave their shops, put their businesses on hold while they’re away and to pay to be out of town. Craft Alive provides these small business owners with an opportunity to get out, make connections with people and is a large portion of their yearly advertising. There’s a lot riding on these events for them.

It’s fabulous that Craft Alive is providing an outlet for regional centres to get access to some of the things that they don’t have in their towns and for which they’d normally have to rely on the internet or go without. So I was conscious of all of this going into the event and I wanted to do all that I could to try and raise the profile of the event and encourage people to get out of their pyjama’s and head into the event.

Gemma and I arrived in Bendigo just after lunch on Thursday after leaving home at 5am and a brief little stop at a patchwork shop we stumbled upon in Rushworth. We checked into our hotel and headed into Bendigo to get some lunch.

I’d never been to Bendigo before and I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but oh my! it’s a beautiful town. The mix of the old buildings with the new was just so sublime, and you can tell that the Bendigo Council is committed to keeping the town interesting and tidy.

We went for lunch and had an… interesting… experience with customer service. With lunch done we wandered around for a little bit taking in the sights and hunting down Op Shops (secondhand goods). We found an amazing secondhand bookstore where I was able to get 2 books that I’d be chasing and are now out-of-print.

We headed out to the Bendigo Showgrounds where I delivered some training in social media to the Craft Alive Exhibitors. They were so excited to learn and I was so glad that I could share some information with them and help them to get on to Instagram. I also really appreciated that they’d taken the time out from their busy setting up to come and learn a little more about how to use social media to help them connect with their communities.

We then went to dinner at Lyttle Asia where our waiter for the evening was a lovely young lad. He had a few issues during the dining experience and then managed to accuse us in front of the entire restaurant while yelling out at us from the doorway that we hadn’t paid. We had in fact paid he was just too disorganised to check the bill folder on our table for the money before rushing to accuse us. Which really was a shining example of what the service had been like… At least we were able to laugh about it and it made our trip memorable.

On Friday Gemma and I had the day to ourselves to spend around Bendigo, which was handy because I was battling with a virus and I really needed to get some rest time in. In the morning we hit View Street and had a look in a lot of the cool secondhand shops that are along there. I fell in love with the greenest kilt I’d ever seen and I so badly wanted to buy it but it was a couple of sizes too small. I’m still dreaming about it and I’m not ruling out buying it anyway just to use for something else.

After an amazing lunch at Cortillé Cafe (you can see my burger on this post) Gemma and I parted company for a few hours so that I could get some rest in. We had dinner at Sangria Spanish Tapas Bar which was a fun experience. Friday’s dining experience totally made up for the memorable experiences we’d had on Thursday.

Saturday was the day for the Instagram Meet Up and I was up early with nerves. Craft Alive had been able to secure the use of a meeting type room in the venue for us to set up for the meet up and it was fun watching it all come together as goodie bags were prepared, quilts were hung and laughter started to echo through the venue. The guests started to arrive and it was like being in Cheers (everyone knew your name), which was fabulous. There’s something so magical about being able to meet people who you’ve been interacting with online for awhile. There’s all the nerves of meeting someone for the first time but they disappear so quickly once you get talking because you already share so much in common.

The day went by so quickly and I think that’s totally because we were all having way too much fun. It’s the first time that I’ve spoken about my quilting journey in that sort of situation and it was so great to be able to show the quilts and share them with people who just understand the crazy that is quilting passion.

It feels like such a blessing to be able to have spent a whole day with these amazing ladies. Everyone is unique and different and just a little bit crazy for creating – it’s totally my kind of crowd. Saying goodbye at the end of the day was so hard to do and I left the event feeling so energised and pumped, despite being really ill. I would do that day again in a heart beat and I’m hoping that when we head to Melbourne for the Craft and Quilt Show that I’ll get to spend some more time with some of them again.

I just crashed on Saturday night. I had hoped to be able to stay behind and have some drinks with the Craft Alive crew, but I could barely talk and I just needed to sleep for the drive home the next day.

On Sunday we got up early, packed our bags and squeezed in a quick visit to Bendigo Pottery before heading back to Craft Alive. I could have spent hours at Bendigo Pottery – not only for the pottery but for the huge antique shop that’s attached to it as well. I was so bummed that we couldn’t wander around there at our leisure.

Back at Craft Alive I did some quick one-on-one lessons in Instagram for the stall holders. It was so great to see them excited about getting on to social media and thinking about all the ways that they could use social media to connect with fellow creatives. I was sad to say good bye to everyone and even sadder because I didn’t get a chance over the weekend to actually stop and enjoy the event.

Gemma and I hit the road around lunchtime and were back in Canberra later that night after one mighty big drive. Even though it’s been a week since the event it seems like it happened in a previous lifetime, but every time I think about it and those amazingly lovely Instagrammers and Exhibitors I do so with a smile on my face and a real sense of community and happiness. Totally a once-in-a-lifetime event and I’m so grateful for it.

If you’d like to attend a Craft Alive event in your area and help support local and regional businesses you can find out more about the upcoming shows by clicking here. The next Craft Alive kicks off at 10am today in Wodonga, so why not get a ticket and pop along!

Disclosure: Craft Alive provided compensation in the form of payment for this promotion. All opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced by the businesses involved. For further information about my disclosure policy please click here.