NJ Festival of Ballooning

OMG... unless you LUV balloons stay far, far, away from this festival.

I walked around as a visitor and only saw lots of promotional giveaways, some carnival rides, mostly average music (except the headliners / big names), and no shade anywhere!! Now, I am not that into balloons and from my booth I couldn't see anything. So there is a chance that there was some stuff going on that I couldn't witness. But from what I did see this is not a place I would spend $25 to get into and not a place I would send my friends or family for a fun day out. But that is just my personal .02.

As a vendor I was blessed that I made it away with my booth fee and a little bit more. I was lucky that I got fed up and left early, just to miss the afternoon thunderstorm that came through the region. I was also lucky that I was next to an awesome neighbor who did great airbrushed tee shirts and brought in a crowd of her own. I was especially lucky to be placed in a location that allowed me to leave early, gave me a good breeze, some shade, and an end location so I only had one neighbor, not two.

The hours are brutal, the crowds are not as large as the the promoter claims them to be (and if they are, they didn't walk by me!), the tents provided were a logistical mess (mine wouldn't close properly, had holes in the sides, and had an awful red and white striped top that makes all the colors inside wonky). There were three soap makers there, one just one booth away, and when we talked we were all approached by the promoter to take part- so they knew they were triple booking one kind of craft. The fine jeweler left after the first day (poor people came all the way from Virginia for this mess), the other left Saturday afternoon. The "craft tents" are mixed in with buy-sell people, free giveaways, and fund-raising booths. So there is no real "craft area" and people actually avoided some tents because of the pushy fundraisers/ giveaways!

And I don't even want to go into the load out experience. Lets put it this way- as cars are allowed on and off property to "deliver" to the corporate promotional booths, we were not allowed to drive on and pack up. If you got there before security you could park behind your booth and no one would say to move the vehicle, and one vendor sat in his truck all day (running) for the air conditioning, but no one said anything as his exhaust seeped through the air!

Every year I have one bust show, and I hope this is the bust for this year.