Smelling Chicken, Listening to Mooing Sounds, and Giving Things Away (Truly Grateful Series)

The Chamber of Commerce in my town hosted their annual Business & Industry Show at the local Middle School yesterday, and I was there with our display booth from the library.  

It is part of my job to put the display together including taking all of the pictures that are on the board and arranging the table when it is all set up.  We generally have three or four events during the year when we take the display booth somewhere and have it set up.  Another part of my job is designing and creating brochures, pamphlets, and bookmarks like you see on the right side of the table.

We held drawings and gave away a children's book and a tote bag with the library logo on it every hour.  At the end of the show, we gave away the gift basket which held four children's books plus a tote bag, a mug, and a cap all with the library logo on them.  

We also had pens and pencils and bookmarks to give away as freebies to anyone who wanted them.

It was a nice change of pace to work at the display booth, and it got me out of my office for a little while.  I only worked there for four hours switching off with other library employees for the rest of the day.  It was nice to chat with the folks who stopped by to visit our booth, pass out informational brochures to those who wanted them, and answer whatever questions people had about the library.

I couldn't back up enough from the display to get a picture of the whole booth so I took several pictures from different angles.  The reason I couldn't back up enough to take a picture was because directly across from our booth were these two booths: one for my son's and his girlfriend's favorite ice cream shop here in town, and one for a company that sells seasonings. 

The seasonings company was giving away samples of chicken cooked with the seasoning and the ice cream place was handing out free ice cream sandwiches to anyone who was willing to moo like a cow.  So all day long we smelled the chicken cooking in that silver pan there on the table to the left and listened to people mooing before watching them enjoy a yummy ice cream sandwich!  Also, around the corner from us, you might be able to see in the very first picture of this post was the booth for a company that sells delicious caramel corn.


Our table with free bookmarks and pens and pencils paled in comparison to the free samples of ice cream and chicken bites across from us!  Even so, we had quite a few people stop to enter our drawings and to say hello as they passed by.  I don't know how many people came through to see the show, but it was crowded all day long.  These pictures I took were all taken before the show even started, so the people you see in these shots are all exhibitors at the show.

These pictures were all taken in the gymnasium of the school where our booth was set up.  There were also booths set up in the cafeteria, the hallway, and the music room.  This is spring break week for the kids in our local schools so the school was empty of students for the day of the show.  The Business & Industry Show is held at the school every year during spring break.  

Businesses of all sorts from all around the county were there with their displays, giveaways, and drawings.

Here are a few of the freebies that I was given. Lots of booths gave away candy, pens, pencils, yardsticks, jar openers, refrigerator magnets, and other sorts of goods that had business logos printed on them.  I was also given a full size bag of peanut butter flavored dog treats, but I forgot to put them in this picture.  Max the poodle dog was quite pleased that I brought those home for him.

I also picked up quite a few coupons for businesses around town.  I made sure to get some coupons from my son's favorite ice cream shop whose booth I mentioned above.  Also, I was the winner of a coupon for a free haircut at one of our area beauty salons!

I spent part of my day at work today calling the winners of all of our drawings from the show to let them know they could pick up their prizes at the library.  That was fun to do.  It's not often you can call up strangers and tell them they have won a prize.  I continue to be so grateful for this job I have that I love.


Lord, for this job that I love, please let me be truly grateful.