May 4, 2008 Chestnut Hill Home and Garden Festival

For all that was wrong with the Lebanon PA show, all was right with the Chestnut Hill show. First, I will admit, I had never been to Chestnut Hill, I had no idea how cute and posh this place was, with the cobblestone streets and the great boutiques and restaraunts, just a fabulous place to go and hang for a day, window shopping and noshing. About halfway through our day C and I both commented on how we would love to actually attend this festival, rather than vend at it, and honestly, that is something that rarely happends to us, usually we are happier behind the tables.

Set up was hurried but easy. The street is narrow so it is important to get unloaded and get out ASAP. There was one other soapmaker there (as far as we could tell after walking around) and they were Philly locals, and close enough that we could see eachother's booths too. The set up is on cobblestones, so by the end of the day my feet and legs killed me from standing on the uneven ground. Next year I need to rember to bring a piece of plywood to stand on, at least a small one should help.

The show starts late in the morning- 11 am and goes until 5pm. So we even got to sleep in a little comparable to other shows. The drive was only about an hour, not too far at all and was easy to find too.

After we got set up we walked around- lots of food from local eateries, great artists and crafters, plants for sale, and a real feeling that the local shops embrace this festival- many had tables out front and sales going on. So many times when I do a show like this it feels as if the local businesses resent it because it takes away from their business for the day- this one was really embraced by the local business- they became a part of it, made it better, and really used it to highlight waht they have to offer too.

It is typically a good sign when my first sale for the day is even before the show offically starts and that is how the day started. It was steady all day, not too many credit card sales, lots of people took flyers and asked questions, I got a few inquiries about wholesale, and the weather was beautiful on top of it.

I always have numbers in my head- what is a "good day" what is a "great day" etc. they change for every show, but I was only a few dollars off from a "good day" of sales, and only a few dollars off from my "guess the sales" projection. And honestly, the atmosphere of this show is one that can make up for some lower sales, although this year it didn't need too.