Sunday, November 20, 2005

Fall craft Show report-
Our small town seems to struggle with getting community events off the ground. I believe the only things that have worked well have been the 4th of July fireworks and the Christmas lights and parade. I don't understand why this is so.
A case in point was this new fine craft and fine art show. I know the person who organized it and I know she did everything she possibly could to get the news out that the show existed. I know it was in the papers and on the radio. I know she had visions of so many people attending with children that she offered me a free space to sell in exchange for having story hour to entertain the kids while their parents shopped. We had 5 kids all weekend in there. (and we did offer to read stories to all of them) I know she contacted the local schools to have kids in caroling, but none of the schools wanted to participate.
In the end, we had very few people who even came to the show, let alone buy anything.
The vendors spent most of their time talking to each other and sometimes buying from each other as well.
I always find the mix at these shows to be interesting. There are those who are dedicated craftspeople who do several shows. They have lovely displays well thought out, a system of set up and tear down that's a marvel to see, and they expect sales.
Then there's someone like me. I might do one show a year and it's a local show, so I don't have a professional approach to any of it. I truly enjoyed meeting everyone there and getting the chance to chat with them. We all talked about how to try to break out and become well-known and shared tactics we've tried. One crafter did a White house ornament and even was part of the gifts for the oscar nominees, but beyond some nice press, it didn't result in sales increases.
My attempts haven't either... Yet.
So, for this show, I had a good idea how it would go and I decided it would be much better to try to use this as a way to get some future business by showing them the possibilities of personalizing a few items I make. I did sell a few small items and then I sold a quilt to someone who was visiting from Memphis. Wow! That made my weekend.
I feel like I enjoyed the fellowship of some new and old friends this weekend and that was very much worth the time spent.

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