For those of you who may be tuning in a bit late, I recently did my very first craft show and now know it will be my last.
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| People setting up their booths. |
It was definitely a unique experience to load up both cars with all our things and then try to unpack and get my displays up on Friday night as it was sweltering hot inside as well as outside because all the doors were propped open.
One of the reasons it bombed was because their was very few shoppers. Apparently the advertising for this show was pitiful and so we were lucky if we saw 1,000 people file through the auditorium in the two days of the show. Honestly, it was so quiet in there so much of the time you would think the doors hadn't opened yet.
Most everyone I spoke with was thoroughly disappointed and didn't even sell enough to pay for their space let alone their other expenses. I am in that category as well.
I was so worn out and so bored by the time the first day ended that I didn't want to come back. Some of you know I suffer from fibromyalgia and that sitting for long periods of time is a killer anyway so my sweet husband said he would go back for me on Sunday and basically babysit our stuff, since we only had one sale, until the darn thing was over at 4pm.
Here are two pictures of my space. Our camera decided to give us fits so the photos aren't very good, but you get the idea.
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On a brighter note, I did pass out a lot of business cards and was able to get the feedback on my mosaics so I am very happy about that. I even had 2 women approach me about putting my pieces in their gallery. For those of you who do craft shows, my hat is off to you. It is an awful lot of work. |
5 comments:
Hi, Chris,
I'm sorry there wasn't more traffic at your show. Your pieces are so beautiful and your shop looked like it was well done.
I hope something comes of the contacts that you made. Get some rest and I'll talke to you in a day or two! Take care, ~Natalie
I'm so sorry it didn't go better! If you ever do decide to do another show, attend it the first year as a patron to see what it looks like... THEN sign up if it's good. I learned that the hard way, same as you, after having some similar experiences.
That is great about the gallery, though!
Oh, and beautiful setup. If you'd had traffic, you'd have made a killing.
So sorry, Chris. You confirmed a lot of the reasons why I don't participate in craft shows. Everyone says to me, "do craft shows on the weekends" like it's a walk in the park. I believe you have to be physically, mentally and financially committed to be a craft show regular. Not for me.
I have the same feelings about craft shows. They are a lot of work and very unpredictable! Your booth looked great though. Sorry to hear it wasn't a good day!
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