Walker Bronze and Girls

Every year we participate in the Wholesale Gift Show in Seattle, WA at the Seattle Convention Center. The show is specifically for Retail Shops and Galleries to find new wholesale inventory for the new year. It goes on for 4 days and is a lot of fun and a time of hard work. At this show we usually see most of our Alaska friends and meet new ones. Folks come down from Yakatat, Hyder, Ketchikan, Juneau, Wrangel, Sitka, Skagway, Anchorage, Craig, Klawock, and Haines, to name a few! There also was a really good show of folks from Oregon this year as the weather was quite mild and they could get there. It was very nice for us to meet some new folks from Oregon. All are shop or gallery owners and it’s fun for me to watch them zipping around finding all the newest inventory for this next season of tourists. Of course, everyone’s visiting as fast as they can and filling their lists with notes and tips to remember, checking inventory lists and carrying clipboards, laptops and cell phones.

Walker Sterling and Grandbabies

The time really flies when you’re busy and drags when there’s a lull.  We had a good show of folks coming by our booth quite steadily. We’re also taking notes like crazy as we talk to people to help us refine our business and be of better service in the future. A special treat for me is to see who comes with their children and extended families that are involved in the business together. One family that we do business with each year has been working together for 90 years; Grandad and Gramma, Mom and Pop and the kids and married in spouses. I’ve found this to be a frequent story of AK businesses.

Janet and Adam in the Walker Booth Seattle Gift Show 2011

You can see our collection of Sterling Silver Northwest Coast Style jewelry in the cases on the left, plus trade bead selections and more jewelry on the right in the photo. This year was our first time presenting Bronze sculpture with our son-in-law, Adam Mills. We started Walker Bronze this year and Adam is our main man! You can see his beautiful bronze panels in the photo and there are bronze tiles on the table behind Adam and I. The panels created quite a stir since they are so stunningly beautiful.

Now to fill the orders we received and market to those who couldn’t make the Seattle Gift Show!