The Yellow Daisy Festival is one of the top three arts and craft fairs in the nation. This festival is a four day event that is put on in one of the most well known parks in Georgia: Stone Mountain Park. This festival has been going on now for 48 years! This annual event was held last weekend, which I attended, and strolled through the 2 mile track to visit the 400 vendors! Although it's a lot of fun, there are a few thoughts that run through your head when you're attending the festival, such as...
Where The Heck Do I Park?!?
Warning: if you want to get a good parking spot, you better make it there by no latter than 7:30 A.M., because if you get there even a minute later, you're going to spend an additional 10 minutes just looking for a decent spot. If you get there later in the day, you better have your walking shoes because you will have a ways to go before you even make it to the festival's gate.
Do I Have Enough Cash?
It's never clear as to which booths will accept cards and which ones won't until you get to the actual booth. SO you have to ask yourself, "how much cash should I carry?". If you underestimate, you'll find yourself having to navigate through the crowds to get back to the ATM machine, which is "conveniently" only in the front of the park.
Which nicely leads into my next thought...
How Do I Get Through This Never Ending Sea Of People?
If you're a claustrophobic person, you might want to consider just staying home, because you will be surrounded by lots of bodies and lots of people at all times. One thing about this festival, and any festival really, is that you have to put your patience into practice. You will get bumped into, and you too will bump into other people. There are so many people walking up and down the lanes, on top of people crowding the booths. Mentally prepare yourself for the crowd and keep in your mind that this is not an in-and-out walk, It's very time consuming to make it through all the people, but so worth it.
What Do I Want To Buy?
One thing about this festival is a lot of the crafts are the same. I used to throw down so much money on the same stuff from different booths just because they all looked so cool! For example, hand made soaps. They get me every time, but the the truth is, I don't need that many of those. If you go around and buy everything you think looks cool or that is enticing, you're going to run out of money fast. Even if the price looks cheap, it quickly adds up, and before you know it, you'll be out of money and you're only half way through the booths- yikes!
What Am I Going To Eat?
Look, I can't do anything productive if I haven't ate. Food puts me in a good mood and prepares me for the rest of the days events. So then I have to ask myself, what do I want to eat? Usually what I do typically is eat breakfast outside of the park. Festival prices are going to jacked up because they know people will want to eat something and they will have no other place to get the food unless if they leave the park, but that also means giving up your parking space, which you'd never be able to find again. If you should decide to eat in the park, there are a ton of food trucks in the front of the festival, and many cool places within the booths. Make sure you plan out a separate budget for food, but the good news is, almost all the food places take cards.
And Finally...
Where Am I Going To Put All My New Stuff?
The most exciting part of the festival is all of the cool stuff you get to bring home with you. It's like Christmas in September! As long as you've got a way to lug around your new things, all you'll have to ask yourself is how to pack it up and get it home when it's time to leave, then you're good to go!
And if you haven't been, or you missed it this year, no worries! It'll be back in 2017, September 7th through the 10th!
