Had a fun time at Brays; first time I had been there. The development, which apparently has sold all of its limited number of widely scattered home sites, was nice to see. We stayed in Beaufort after at night at Palmetto Buff before that, which was really nice. Met and had a fun chat with
Dave Winfield while there.
Lots of good vendors at Brays, most of whom I have gotten to know after visits to the Southern. Attendance, I was told, was off a bit on Friday, likely due to an inaccurate rainy forecast, but it was definitely higher on Saturday.
It was interesting to see the approaches to sales efforts by different vendors. One came up to me as soon as I got there and went straight into sales mode on guns without a general chat or question about maybe what I might be interested in. Others couldn't have been been more easy going and welcoming long before maybe mentioning that they'd be glad to help with anything while I was there.
My wife, who had never attended one of these things with me, enjoyed the range of offerings and vendors outside of just gun stuff.
Aside from just Brays, we stumbled upon another very interesting store in Beaufort. From appearances, it was an art store, but once inside as I met the relatively young artist (a local native who who can give you a deep dive into the area's history) it became so much more. While his wildlife focused artwork (quail hunting, low country, ect) was outstanding, he soon started chatting about all sorts of other interests including watches, Les Paul guitars, historical antique maps, African safaris (showed me pics of his elephant), and guns. Seems he also sells guns in the upstairs part of his store. He's a close friend of
Tony Makris, who now lives in Beaufort. Tony buys guns for resale, parks them there and gives them a chance to be sold. If they don't sell after a few months, they are then handed over to August Morris and
Steve Barnett. Tony was helping out August at the SB vendor booth, and brought in some more guns for it yesterday.
Anyway, it's always special to find another interesting spot to visit when in a new neighborhood. If you're ever in the area, I'd suggest putting
Rhett Gallery on your list.
