Well this year the festival really pulled a fast one on me. First, a new committee totally revamped the show, adding new stages, new entertainment, a car show, and also rearranging the layout of the show as well. On Friday set up went reasonably quick and getting in and out seemed easy as well. I was worried about the new layout as well as the location for my booth, because on the map my space seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but once I got there it didn’t seem so bad.
On Friday I was hoping to be able to set up early, come back home and then go back for the show start at 2 pm. But at least I was smart enough to pack my lunch and other stuff just in case I didn’t make it back home, which I didn’t. It took me a little longer to get the inside of the booth set up than I had anticipated, and then B came and M had to work so he couldn’t help her so I helped her a little too, before I knew it, it was just easier to stay than to drive home for only and hour or two. The show started at 2 and ran until 8 pm. The attendance was small and many vendors I know did not sell a thing that night. I was lucky and did pretty well; surprisingly well in fact, but not good enough for me to know for sure that this new set up was a good one.
Saturday sales were fine, but this year Friday + Saturday = last years Saturday. Attendance didn’t seem as high as I had hoped although I haven’t heard any real figures on how many people attended. It may just be the new layout and my booth location that kept me from getting a true perspective on how many people came to the event. Mostly I heard through the grape vine that sales were terrible and many people claimed to be unhappy. But really now, so often us crafters are “unhappy” no matter what, we just don’t want to admit it when a show is good, so I can’t have been the only person doing OK that day.
Sunday blew my mind; it far surpassed any sales goals that I had expected. Sales on Sunday were even better than Saturday which is so unusual. From the people I could see and talk to, many people also did better on Sunday (and still others did not). I got lots sales from out of the area, I could tell from the zip codes and phone numbers from the credit card sales. I am wondering if they got any tour busses that day.
All in all my sales were up dramatically from last year. I think some of that is due to the fact my pricing has changed from 3/$10 to 6/$20 so each individual sale was higher this year than last year. I also think that some of it had to do with the weather, it was absolutely beautiful (and it rained last year). And I am sure the increased days and hours along with the increased publicity helped me some too.
I was disappointed with some of the changes, some of the vendors, and some of the set up/ flow was bad. But I think that they may be able to fix it next year. I hope that they do and I hope enough people pulled out an OK show to come back, some I know won’t be back next year and left very disappointed, but I wasn’t one of them.
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