News and Notes
|
Exhibitor Show Reviews Appearing in the Sep/Oct 2007 Issue
Breath of Spring Craft Show, Community Service Club, New Fairfield High School, New Fairfield, CT. March 31. 50 - 99 Exhibitors. Committee was very pleasant - help in unloading, booth-sitting, etc. Morning coffee and bagels appreciated. Signage driving to fair was excellent, but still not many cutomers. Too much jewelry! I did well despite the small crowd and will do this show again.
WNPR/WCTV Arts Festival at the Farmington, CT Polo Grounds, Craftproducers, May 4 - 6. Comments: Attendance on Friday was about 200, the attendance over the next two days was maybe 1000.
Quality of the artists was excellent. Setup and tear down had very little direction or rhyme or reason. This was a poorly coordinated and poorly advertised event. Many people we spoke to who did have customers only had them because of the private mailing they had done from their own mailing list.
2nd Annual Artisans on the Hill Fine Arts & Crafts Exhibition and Sale, Prospect Congregational Church, Prospect, CT. May 19. Less than 50 Exhibitors. Comments: Gwenn (Fischer) did a WONDERFUL job with the show. The professional signs, lanyards and breakfast items were lovely. The volunteers were very helpful and the layout and communication top notch. Unfortunately, the weather did not bring anyone out to shop. This is only the second year and the show may need more time to establish itself as a great show. My suggestions would be to not have it the same day as the town-wide tag sales and perhaps on a Sunday. The green is located directly in front of the church and would lead to automatic traffic when church let out.
Branford Women-s Club Arts & Crafts Show, Branford, CT May 19. 50 - 99 Exhibitors. Comments: The weather was really bad - drizzly, cloudy and cold, which is certainly no fault of the show's organizers. The people who did come were friendly and visited most of the booths. There were way too many jewelry stands - which is what I sell - so I think they need to limit duplicates. My understanding is that they don't turn anyone away. I'm willing to go back - and hope for better weather.
Shelton Jaycees Craft Fair, Huntington Green, Shelton, CT. June 3. 50 - 99 Exhibitors. Comments: 1.Very few of us did anything worth noting. The only thing that kept this from being a total bust was another crafter who bought
something. Nineteen jewelers were there even though they claim to limit each category to three.
2. There were many jewelry vendors and I heard complaints from other exhibitors. I don't sell jewelry so this normally makes my sales better. This was my first experience with this show and setting up at a show without marked spaces, but set-up worked out fine and I didn't see anyone having a problem with the system. I sold ten times the booth fee ($50), but with the traffic that passed the green all day we should have made much more. Just can't get people to park their cars, get out, walk around, and take a look.
3. Nice show, good advertising,
Gallery on the Green, Litchfield Women's Club, Litchfield, CT June 9. 100 -1 50 Exhibitors. Comments: Lots of browsers, very few buyers. A few folks did OK but I wasn't one of them.
Georgetown Festival, Georgetown, CT. June 10. 50 - 99 Exhibitors. This was a street festival, not a craft fair. Most people came for the food and beer, not the crafts.
Strawberry Festival, Monroe Congregational Church, Monroe Green, Monroe, CT June 16 - 17.
100 - 150 exhibitors. Comments. 1. I do this show every year and have some excellent repeat customers. Did see some imported glass and buy-sell junk. Lots of people, sales were not as brisk as I would have hoped. 2. This has always been a good show and this year was no exception.
Newington Mill Pond Extravaganza, Newington Parks and Recreation, Mill Pond Park, Newington, CT. July 21. 50 - 99 Exhibitors. Comments: There were more amusements, rides and food vendors than crafters. The rides were too close to the craft area and as a result the background noise was barely tolerable. It seems every middle school and high school student was at the show - the annual fireworks that night didn't help. This used to be a good show - not anymore. Too bad.
Editor: I visited this how on Saturday morning - it was a family event and not really a craft show. There was a lot of foot traffic and many booths were quite busy. The booths doing the most business seemed to have merchandise geared toward children. There was an abundance of jewelry and a number of booths that were buy/sell. The show is not juried.
|
|
