Overview

Robot Dragon Studios blog covering my vending experience at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot's first event in St Croix, WI on April 11, 2026 for National Pet Day. I reflect on my experience sharing a tent, vending outdoors in unpredictable weather and all the pets we met along the way.

Applications, Payments & Planning

So March 13, my long time friend and old neighbor from when we first moved to MN texted me to see if I wanted to setup at their event. I wasn't charged a booth fee since I am a friend but also was coming in from out of state, as the event was in Wisconsin down the road from where they had moved. Tammy is probably one of the most fun, outgoing people I have met so of course I was happy to go. I haven't seen her or her family since they moved, so that would be the bonus.

I was given the date, hours, setup time and location immediately so I was able to look it up and see where it was. It was about an hour drive from me. I had a tent from 2025 as it was, but I did still need weights. I figured I would probably eventually get some, but now wasn't the time. 40 lbs per leg as a requirement is important and I guess I would later regret not actually buying more weights.

I did raise some concerns about the weather, but the weather kept changing so much none of us could really figure out what the true forecast would be. She also let me invite other people I knew if they were interested. Brittany from Wolf Dynasty studios gladly accepted to share my tent with me. She's always a delight to booth with so I was happy she was coming along.

The only real planning I did was just update my Square terminal and snag the tax rate. At this point I don't have any extra spending cash for much of anything and have been just trying to pay off the plush I owe money on, so I was just happy to have an opportunity to vend.

Tammy sent us an email on April 9th outlining all the details for the event. I will say this didn't cross my mind until later, but no details were included about parking. Parking was free either way, but I usually think to ask and didn't for some reason.

Before the Event & Setup

I never unpacked my stuff from Anime Detour, so I just brought those boxes minus the grid cubes. I still have my big spinning rack for faster setup/tear down events, so I brought that. Our car is still new, so we wrapped everything in blankets. I also still had cash in my purse from Detour. 

We probably overpacked. I didn't need a box of plush or pins really but it was hard to know what sales would have been like either way. We brought the large box of pins and plush and then a small box of stickers. We had to bring our own table and chairs but opted to bring a table and just one chair. For me, this was sort of a useful test of what can we fit in our vehicle and what sort of table situation can I work with for outdoor events where I have to bring all my own stuff. 

Once the vehicle was all packed up, I cut up some potatoes and prepped chicken for the crock pot so food could cook while I was at my event. My daughter was having her friend spend the night, so her job was to get the house cleaned up for that and bring my hair claws inside. 



Once all the food was prepped and the vehicle ready to go, we headed out! It was actually a super nice scenic drive through a part of Minnesota I had never ventured to. We even saw the giant teapot water tower. I was driving, so I didn't take a photo to share, sorry! I got a photo of the raindrops as we were about to leave which had me nervous we'd be setting up in the rain.


It was actually a super easy place to find. I have no idea why I expected it to be some sort of preserve park situation like Bunker Lake Park or Elm Creek. Brittany had arrived earlier, so she was already in the process of setting up. I just remember wanting to get there early enough that if it did rain she wasn't setting up in the rain since we had the tent. I ran over to let Tammy know we were there and start setting up.



We unpacked the vehicle, and someone helped my husband setup the tent. I tried but man, tents and me do not agree. I pinched my fingers like three different times. I spent so long setting up my stickers because the wind was blowing them all over, that Brittany and my husband ended up putting one of each of my pin designs on the spinning rack. 

We started off not having any walls, just the little overhang you have the option to attach. I always like to find where the bathroom is since my experience has often been outdoor events only have outhouses. The bathroom a building you had to get to through the gift shop. Since the rest of the park was not open til May or so, it was blocked off. Only thing that was a bit odd was that there was no mirror in there. It was clean which is really all that mattered anyways.

The Event Itself

It started at 11am, and of course I was still setting out my stickers. I do love my sticker racks, but man, I had left my box at home that usually holds my sticker displays. As a result, the racks were out of order. I usually break them down in a specific order and put them together in that order then check photos to make sure all the stickers are where they should be.



That did not happen and I had to redo them all on the fly.  Not all the stickers made it onto the trays either, but it wasn't the end of the world. Once I flipped the trays around, none of the stickers were blowing and stayed in the trays the rest of the event. I was so concerned the wind would be my enemy. Instead, it was the enemy of the tent itself. I still think our setup worked out nicely in the end.

People were bringing their pets around and browsing. Immediately I sold some stickers and got a business card from the booth next to us, Top of the Valley Pet Resort. They love golden retrievers so hopefully I can work with them on some things they can carry! Would be so nice to have stores carry my products.

A lot of people stopped in and chatted with us, showed off their pets and made some purchases. I was so cold, my husband gave me his extra jacket and brought us some mini donuts from one of the food vendors that was there. They were so good.


At some point we had to put up walls behind both Brittany's table and mine. Initially we just put hers up, but the overhang started to collect water and we ended up taking that down and putting a wall up behind my table as well. Later this would be an issue as it was catching wind.



I took a bunch of random photos while we were at the event either way. Mostly trying to capture the rain and the pets. There were so many dogs, especially golden retrievers. Some horses, a duck and some cats. I was really happy with how attendance was despite the temperamental weather.



There was actually a guy who stopped by and asked Brittany if she did commissions at all. It was so amusing because she said yes and he immediately said "Oh well I tried to use AI to make my dog a Pikachu, but it wouldn't let me because of copyright. Is that something you can do?" - definitely caught us both off guard. He did take a card at least so hopefully she gets a fun commission. I got photos of his doggo though. So cute!



I believe at one point we thought it may clear up, but it was still cold. I was texting my daughter about my hair claws arriving, she was talking about baking cookies and my husband brought me a hot chocolate after I saw Brittany had gotten one before he headed to sit in the vehicle to get warmed up.



It was actually around this time some kid from one of the vendors came over and was chatting. Brittany had walked to her car to get some hand warmers out, and this kid was browsing through her stickers. He had a whole lot to say about how he didn't know much about anime but really liked Pokemon. Definitely kept us entertained for about 15 minutes or so. I let him pick out a sticker for free since I know he was probably bored and cold. Then a kid came by with a fluff maine coon on a leash! The cat seemed a little spooked.




The weather was really getting cold and couldn't decide if we were going to have sleet, rain or stop raining. It wasn't until my husband came out after I called him to come remove a tent wall that he mentioned it was going to start raining for the next two hours pretty soon. The women in the tents around me were like, okay well we know we said we'd stay but do we have to? I said I would go talk to Tammy since load-out in the rain seemed like an extremely unfun idea. Plush, pins and stickers are not really things I want to get wet and that was basically my whole inventory. I think it was a little before 2pm we walked over to see if we could pack up early since the weather was not in our favor at all. People's tents were getting blown around, things were flying and the parking lot was no longer full like it had been earlier in the day when it was threatening rain and not raining yet.



Event organizers can be so hit or miss but Tammy, while holding her tent herself, was like yeah you guys can pack up and head out. I felt bad leaving but it did start pouring while we were packing up. We couldn't even put the tent away until we made sure Brittany got her stuff into her vehicle. She helped us get the tent packed up and then we all headed home. My hands were so red and frozen by the time we were done packing up. 

What Worked & What Did Not

The weather. I know the forecast kept going back and forth on when it would rain. At one point, it stated it wouldn't rain til around 4pm/5pm which would have been perfect. While we were at the event, the weather decided to not only sleet a little, it also decided around 2:30pm it was going to pour. 

Free parking. I will always appreciate not having to pay for parking. 

My tent. I really need more weights. Mine was still better than some of the people around us, but even with 3 bags of rocks and weights on each leg, I definitely knew I didn't have enough. You're supposed to have like 40 lbs per leg and uhh.. I did not. I knew I didn't and I became a part of my tent decor holding down one of the tent legs once the rain started picking up.

Conclusion

I think the weather really killed what would have probably been a much busier event. I feel like it was still really busy regardless and wish we could have a do-over without the rain.

Despite that, I'd do it again. I mean, I got to pet dogs and make money. Is there really a better way to sell?

The Details (TLDR)