Sometimes things just fall into place, that the right person answers the mystery picture. In this case, it was Mel Warren who said of the Nov. 6 picture, "Your mystery picture is the inside of tent No. 1, at the Oyster Festival; I'm cheating, I was there. I was probably behind the guy's head in the picture. It's taken right in my tent."

The tent was especially beautiful this year and Mr. Warren, the man in charge of filling that Arts & Crafts tent at the Oyster Festival, said, "They hung more lights this year. There were two or four more ceiling lights in each tent and it made it better. The middle tent was new, it was the connector and should have been a regular tent but they wanted to showcase a new open-structure tent with no poles. It was competely open inside: 80 feet x 80 feet and no poles and no outside ropes. It's very expensive but they wanted to showcase it; to show the stuff that's out there, but it is almost three times the cost of the other tents. I would like to use it, it is so much nicer, but my vendors can't afford anymore fees than they are paying and right now it's at the limit. A lot of them travel and have motel and gas costs so it doesn't make it worth their while. But basically, at the Oyster Festival show they all make good money. The reports are that everyone was happy, although some of the high-end jewelers didn't so as well. People didn't spend as much money. But with what was going on economically that week, with everything going in the dumpster, no one was going to spend money.

"The only complaint [by the crafts people] was that people spent all their money in the food court - but that's always the case.

"Most of the food people sold out from what I hear. There were no big problems this year. The festival went off really well. Everyone was satisfied. There were a few glitches, but for an event to run that well is great. The wind that weekend was brutal early in the morning - it wasn't that strong but it was enough that those few vendors outdoors had to tie their tents down. In the tents it was okay. The weather was fine Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but then on Friday and the weekend, the wind coming off the bay was brutal, but we did have sunshine. We need the sun. For the past three years we have had sunshine, although two or three years ago it was always threatening. I remember one festival when there were nine days of straight rain. I had vendors who couldn't make it because they were up to their axles in mud and couldn't make it here. One year the rain was horizontal; I don't know how they got the tent up but they got it up," he said reminiscing.

Mr. Warren had praise for Food Court Chair Bev Zembko. He said, "Bev does a great job in that food court. Some vendors complain, but she is looking out for each individual nonprofit organization to not overlap the foods. If one vendor has their application in, it's first-come, first-served. When another group wants the same item, she says 'no you can't have that product' and it makes it better for all of them. But they all complain; yet, she keeps the food diversified so everyone has a fair chance.

"In my area of crafts, I can duplicate. What I do in jewelry is limit it to 10 percent of the 140 spaces. I allow only a 10 percent duplication. Jewelry is so tough to cut off because there are so many varieties from high to low. I had 18 jewelers and most did well. Only the high-end jewelers with items at $100 to $200 didn't do as well as last year. The rest of the jewelers were happy.

"There were several soaps and candle booths, but all do well. The product scents are different so you can have half a dozen in the show and spread them out so they are not all together. Similar things should not be close together."

Mr. Warren said he wants vendors who make their own items. "I have to be careful with my vendors that they make it. Some aren't smart enough to hide the boxes saying 'made in China'."

Mr. Warren promotes only this one show a year, but does six shows with his leatherwork. His next one is this weekend on Nov. 15 and 16, at Suffolk County College Sports and Exposition Center off Exit 53 on the LIE. "It's a high-end show," he said.

Belle Santora said, "The picture is of the Oyster Festival in October."

Theodore J. Amotobozo said, "This week's mystery picture is the Arts & Crafts tent at this year's Oyster Fest."

Christine Genco called to identify the Oct. 30 picture. She said, "I recognized the bench on the left of the Sept. 7 memorial. My brother's name, Peter Genco is on the memorial and I visit it often." - DFK