Gail Phillips on tue 12 oct 04
Hi, all -
Wayne said I should post this:
I have been trying my hand at some local fairs that were incorporated =
into
other events, i.e., city festivals. Two weekends ago, I did the Franklin
Fall Festival, south of Indianapolis, and made a grand total of $13. Too =
bad
the booth fee was $30. The organizers stuck all of the flea market/kit =
crap
on the main drag, and stuck me behind a building in a parking lot, =
between a
Greek pastry seller with over-sugared little children and a little =
girls'
parties organizer (pink/purple/glitter/mylar/hair updos/face painting), =
and
across from the Frankiln Shooting Sports Club =
spin-the-wheel-win-some-junk
booth. Near the yellow-jacket filled dumpster, too. I found out later =
that I
was the only person there with handmade anything. Whee.
This past weekend, I did the Martinsville Fall Foliage Festival. After =
an
overcast no-sale Saturday, I returned to a sunny but brisk Sunday, =
hoping
for better results. No sales on Sunday, either. What a washout waste of
time, almost.=A0 I got some names for my mailing list, and someone wants =
some
ceremonial cup for birthdays, which I will try to make. Steve, the
photographer next to me, only sold one small matted print for $15 on
Saturday and nothing on Sunday. I guess the new rule is: If you are =
close
enough to see the Tilt-A-Whirl sign, you are in the wrong venue. Go =
home.
Once again, the booth fee was $30, which was not well spent. All of the
weird flea market/carnival crap was on the main streets, and the artists
were stuck in places not easy to spot for customers.
=A0
While trying to pack my car on Sunday, one of the fair organizers made =
me
move my car farther away, saying that if I was parked where I was, =
everyone
would want to be in there, and there wasn't room (it wouldn't have been =
much
of a convenient spot for many vendors, so I don't see what he was on =
about).
After I moved my tiny car another 25 feet away, three more people pulled
in=A0with vans and SUVs where I was originally, and no one kicked THEM =
out.=20
=A0
Beware the fair that doesn't assign you a spot, spreads the 'artists' =
out
all over the place in tiny groups, doesn't offer setup or teardown
assistance, doesn't give you a fairly convenient way to get your stuff =
to
and from=A0your spot (park 4 blocks away!),=A0and doesn't offer you =
booth relief
for a bathroom break. Also, beware the fair that has someone selling =
silly
string and other crap that kids can throw around and junk up the place.
Sunday morning, I found a horizontal eye-level tear in the plastic that =
I
had covered the front of my booth with, and a piece of corn-dog coating
inside my booth. Sigh. Nothing appeared to be missing, so I guess it =
could
have been worse.
Hopefully, a home open-studio event will have better results. That's =
next.
Still pluggin' away,
Gail Phillips, Praying Mantis Pottery (.com)
"Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting." - John Russell=A0
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