Herkimer was a loss this year. It never was a spectacular show, but it never was bad either. There usually was two, maybe three soapmakers-this year I think I saw 4. And for the last few years I had gotten a blue ribbon- this year not even an honorable mention- even though I had new displays, new labels, and some new product. I learned that the ribbons are more to award newcomers and to try and get them to stay coming back to the show than to really reward who has the best products. I don’t think it was a coincidence that so many vendors that I recognized as new to the show this year had ribbons at the end of Saturday.
So since sales have been pretty good the last few years, when I received the information in the mail about advertising in their flyer I though it might be a good thing. So J designed me up an ad. It even highlighted that I had won a blue ribbon in both 2004 and 2005. I paid an exorbitant amount of money to have it placed in the show flyer/map. And my sales were down by ½. I barely made back my booth fee + my ad rate. Don’t even talk to me about the gas and tolls.
My roommates also annoy the heck out of me. The application says that spaces are 10x10 but they only put three of us in a room. I used 10x7 on my side of the room. The other two just expand and expand. Putting displays so close it is hard to look at my product because people can’t get by one another. And I have complained for two years, and nothing has been done about it. I hate indoor shows like this just for this reason. Crafters want every inch they can, even at an outdoor show when we are supposed to stay in our 10x10 booth, but inside, give us an inch and we’ll take a mile. And since mom is with me I am a lot more likely to roll over than if it was C and I.
So this was my first real dog of a show this year. So I can’t complain. I just need to look for other options next year and I need to hope that this isn’t a precursor to the rest of the holiday shopping season.
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