..in Framingham. After three farmers markets, we’re getting many repeat customers. On our second day there we sold 90 bags, and just recently on our third trip we moved about 80.

We’ve had a bunch of drive-bys, where someone will spot the tent and pull right over and get out and buy a bag. One woman said she had her windows down while waiting for the light and could smell it. 2 hours later she comes back and gets a bag. Still pretty decent for only 4 vendors with tents. (Not including the Federation of Farmers’ Markets tent - the people who run the show.)

My buddy “Johnny” MacLeod lives near by and has been showing up and hanging out. I’ve known him since freshman year in high school (1976). He was the main actor in my big obscure indie film project called “alt.sex”. I may be sucking him into this “scam” and make him pop kettle corn. Don’t you hate it when someone writes about someone else in a blog that has no relevance to the reader? Tough noogies.

OK, we’re video production guys by nature. This is what we do. (B.K.C. - Before kettle corn) Of course we’re gonna shoot commercials and other silly crap for Velma’s Kettle Corn. We can’t help it. Steve was mostly a sound guy, I did plenty of shooting in my early days and ended up an editor/graphics guy. (I created everything you see on this website.) We get paid plenty of money to do video production. Why are we now making kettle corn? I tend to blame it on a mid-life crisis.

Of course we pick a 95 degree day in Springfield to shoot this thing in. Some people needed a little prodding with a large bag “upgrade” to get them on camera. Some people just went for it. (We like the type who just go for it. Not that we’re losing any big money on upgrading to a large bag, just they tend to be more spontaneous.) Today reminded me of the OTHER 95 degree day we had last year. Not only is the kettle radiating blazing heat, but even the kettle corn is once you dump it in the sifter. I got heat stroke by the end of the day last year and couldn’t even help load the trailer. This was before we got these super duper blower fans that fire a torrent of air into your face. A couple of people asked me what are those for, I call them our “life support system.”

We should be shooting some more testimonials during the summer and will post all the new versions as we go along. I’m planning on doing some weird “story” things with kettle corn too. To see what we did for a video, just go to the buy some now page:

Buy some kettle corn online page

Note: yes, it is the ol’ “go to the BUY SOME KETTLE CORN page to see what we did” ploy. Feel free to ignore the BUY SOME button.

Since we’ve done so well on Tuesdays at the Springfield farmers market, we decided to add Thursdays to our schedule and try the same thing at the Framingham Farmers Market. (Located at the Common/Green or something like that.) I should know this stuff because I went to middle school, high school and college in Framingham. (It’s like you can’t escape your past. Get me out of here…PLEASE.)

It was kind of small, 6 tents/vendors. The woman who runs the event (Heidi) thinks there will be more vendors coming as the season progresses. I had one surprise - my old movie theater co-worker (from 1983) Mike Sanders was there working for the Sudbury Valley Trustees. We keep crossing paths every 10 years. I can only imagine who else I’ll be running into at this event. (Old high school girlfriends?)

Since we were kinda hurting for customers, the “cheese done slid off of Velma’s cracker” - she went nuts giving away samples to the people in cars who were waiting for the light to change. Got a couple of drive by customers who spotted the good ol’ “kettle corn hot light” sign. Total bags sold: 35. Hopefully it’ll pick up, let’s see what happens in the next few months.