It’s always nice to have a smaller, calmer event once in awhile to help you play around with your display and catch up on making products. That’s what Sunshine & Sunflowers at Stokoe Farms was for me. This was the very first year for Sunshine & Sunflowers, and while Stokoe Farms’ other events are well attended, I felt as a brand new event, this event would be a little more low key. And I was right.
Stats
Festival: Sunshine & Sunflowers
Location: Stokoe Farms, Scottsville, NY
Dates: Saturday, August 17 – Sunday, August 18
Times: Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-4pm
Booth: 10×10 located inside the ‘Fun Barn’. AKA you’re booth is in an enclosed area with concrete floor. *However there is only room for a small number of vendors. As their first year, there were 7 vendors total. If this show grows, they’ll have to move the vendors to an outdoor location. From the sounds of it, they are already planning for this and have a location directly in the sunflower fields for vendors with tents to set up.
Saturday
Saturday morning was absolute chaos.
There is NO Friday night set up for this event. And to make matters worse they only give you 1 1/2 hours to set up before the festival officially opened. Set up started at 9:30 a.m.. I actually arrived around 9:15 a.m. and lucky me, they let me in!
Thankfully the Fun Barn, where there were supposed to be 10 vendors, is located directly next to the parking lot and has a door out to the parking lot. We were able to pull right up to the door and unload then move our vehicle a row away so others could do the same.
Bret had to work, so his little brother, Trenton, volunteered to help. I had him help unload the car as fast as possible and then he helped me set up my heavy stuff. Since he’s never helped before, he didn’t know what to do. Taking pity on him, I released him from service as soon as my heavy gridwalls were up and in place. Once he was gone I raced against the clock!
I honestly didn’t know I could set up my booth that fast! I managed to get everything on hangers and looking decent by 11:15 a.m. Only, Stokoe Farms opens to the public at 10 a.m…. Not sure why the festival didn’t start when the farm opened, but again this is their first year having outside vendors come in.
After I set up, the Stokoe Farm staff set up a paint along project in the middle of the vendors. I thought this was great! As they painted they could peer around the room and possibly buy something when they finished. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
What did happen was thunderstorms. I’m taking loud, crashing thunder and lightening that lit up the sky. I was very grateful to be inside a barn during that. But due to the weather, Stokoe Farms decided to close the farm early at 1pm. I sold nothing at this point. I knew this wasn’t going to be fantastic, but I really thought I’d sell one thing by the end of Saturday.
I reminded myself that this was a new event, thunderstorms happen, and hey, you got to test out decorating your booth to make it more appealing so it’s a win no matter what happens.
Sunday
Round 2. I watched the weather report and of course it predicted thunderstorms all day. I honestly figured the farm would close early again and I’d be going home empty handed.
But then it turned out to be a beautiful day! There were a lot of people, but no one was coming into the barn to see what we had. So the 6 other vendors and I put our heads together to solve this problem. I took my mannequin and put her just outside the barn. Another vendor took a display of children’s books and move it just outside as well.
Then we noticed, Stokoe Farms Chalkboard sign that announced there were vendors in the barn was erased! (Thunderstorms anyone?) We quickly got our hands on chalk and made a new sign.
It worked.
After that we had a small crowd come into the barn and look around. I can tell you the other vendors were selling items just find. Me, it turned out to be too nice of a day in the 80s once again. I found no one even wanted to look at my product. And that’s ok. I managed to get a few different projects completed in the time. Met some great vendors that I hope to see at other shows in future and overall had a good time.
It wasn’t until the end of the show when I made my first sale! And then another! Between the two sales, I made back the vending fee and a little more. Not bad for it being very warm in the barn and this being a family friendly event as well as the first year Stokoe Farms has done this.
Lessons Learned
1. Set up time Matters
NEVER do I want to do a show where I must set up the day of. Holy frick! I now know how long it takes me to set up my booth all alone when highly motivated. Approximately 2 hours. Therefore, if I ever do another show that I have to set up the day, I need at least 3 hours before open to set up at a reasonable rate, and not kill myself before the show begins.
*Note to self, make sure show has day before set up times.
This may not be a problem for everyone. I just know for myself, I cannot speed up the process. I have fiber items that require they do NOT travel on hangers or near any objects that may snag the fiber out of place. That’s where most of my set up time goes to is hanging products on hangers. It’s worth it in the end because I do have a nice display, but it is a pain to set up and break down later.
2. Signs are important!
At one point, we all realized the chalkboard sign advertising there were local artists/vendors to check out, had been erased. Here we were wondering why people were peering into the barn but not coming in. Signs stating there are vendors and where they are located help immensely.
Then we, the vendors, decided to come up with ways to get people into the barn. I moved my mannequin outside, another vendor moved an entire stand of books outside too. Almost immediately, people started coming in to see what we had and sales were made.
3. Every show is different
I made 2 sales all weekend. Part of that was because the weather, part was the fact that this is a completely new event, and part was trying to sell winter items in 80 degree weather.
Sometimes I can sell winter weather items in the summer and sometimes I just can’t. That’s the way of it. You never know when a show will be a complete and total bust or if it will be the best show you’ve ever had. Just be prepared for either choice.
Recommendations
This was the very first year for Sunshine & Sunflowers and we had bad weather… I’m predicting after a few years, this show could be amazing. Right now it is not established like Stokoe Farm’s other well attended events.
As for merchandise, I HIGHLY recommend family friendly vendors. This is a family event, so there are a lot of children and parents. I feel like child themed/sunflower themed items will do very well, followed by jewelry of course.
My recommended price range is $0-$30 items. People are there for the sunflowers and fun. If they happen to see something they like, a cheaper price range will make them more likely to buy. It is easily justified verses going home with an $100+ item.
I hope you learned something, like me! Until next time, where I will be at Palmyra Canal Days, followed by the Purple Painted Lady Festival the next weekend. I’m looking forward to both and can’t wait to tell you how both go and any lessons learned!
~Ashli
Did you enjoy this review? Please take a look at my other reviews from 2019!
Were you a part of this festival? Please tell me about your experience below in the comments 🙂