Vendor Review of Fairport Holiday Craft Show

Let me start by saying this little festival is close to my heart because it was one of my very first craft shows. I honestly do not remember where I heard about this little craft show but it was where I got started.

I have so many fond memories from this event. This year (2019) marks my forth year vending at this show, so in this review I will give you my opinion from the last four years.

Stats

Festival: FEA Scholarship Annual Holiday Craft Show

Location: Minerva DeLand Middle School, Fairport, NY

Dates: November 23

Times: Saturday: 9:30am – 4pm

Vendor Types: Handmade, Not sure about direct sales. Can’t hurt to ask if you’re in direct sales. I don’t remember there being any though. NO commercial.

Booth: 5×11….. This is a very weird size booth because the spaces are in hallways. I’ve done a double at this event too (5×22)

Booth Fee: As of 2019 it’s $50 a space. *Fees go towards scholarships for Fairport School Graduating seniors!

Set up: On your application you decide if you want to set up Friday afternoon (4-6pm) or Saturday morning (6-9am).

Parking: Vendors are assigned different areas of the school parking lot. The staff get upset if you park in the main area near the doors due to that being customer parking.

Set up/ Break down

Set up for this event is interesting. There is an army of children! The school provides a small army of children to help unload your vehicle. This is GREAT! As the event is indoors, and you are only allowed to enter through two different doors, having to make only 2 trips to your vehicle helps immensely.

The first three years I have done this show, we saw the army of children, but typically only received help with our last trip into the school. Which I’m okay with. Why? A lot of the current vendors are older and I think appreciate the help more than us. Bret and I have a routine and we kind of have a system at this point. We unload part of the car, enough that I can get started setting up. At that point, he’ll keep unloading the car and move it so the next person can unload. This means by the time he comes back, I have a part of the set up complete and we are able to bang out the rest quickly. *Both of us don’t want to be there longer than necessary. Though I do enjoy taking my time to get everything just right.

This year, the army of children saw us straight away and we ended up unloading everything in two trips! One with the army and the last trip with just us. It was fantastic!

For break down, it’s the typical routine. Get all your product and set up down and packed before you bring the car around to load.

Now, my booth has always been in the back hallway, farthest from the front door. There is a door literally 5 feet away from my booth leading to the staff parking lot behind the building where I am required to park for the show. You’d think, it’d be easier to unload and load through that door, instead of fighting my way through the cafeteria full of vendors and out the front door.

I made that mistake once. My first year. I pulled my vehicle right up to the back door and had started loading my car. I was literally half way loaded when a staff member started yelling at me. Apparently, someone hit a child with their vehicle at some point in the history of this event. Since that happened, NO ONE is allowed to use the back entrances.

I literally had maybe one more trip to make and my car would be packed. I was backed up to the door, which meant I’d be pulling out of the parking lot, not backing up. And still I was not allowed. I was told to carry my last bit through the crowded building to the front and wait for Bret to bring the car around and find a safe place to park to finish loading. We received no help.

No amount of reasoning with the staff member would make her budge. Since this was my early years of vending, I was terrified to get black listed and never invited back. So I relented and did as she asked.

However, the last two years I have watched the popcorn vendor use those very doors I was not allowed to use to unload and load their large truck… A truck that I know from experience has larger blind spots than my little SUV…I understand their popcorn maker machine on wheels is hard to wheel through the school… but if it’s a safety issue, why put them in the back of the building? Why not have them in the front hall where everyone enters from? Where it is supposedly safer for the army of children running in and out of cars without looking are?

Moral of this story, be prepared to have to travel quite a ways to your booth even if there is a convenient door nearby.

I also recommend Friday night set up. The earlier the better. By the time we leave it is dark and it gets hard to see the kids darting everywhere. It’s amazing they have only had that one incident in the back of the building where a kid was hit.

Saturday

Saturday morning is hectic. The remaining artists that did not set up Friday come to set up. The army of children reappears to make the process easier, and everyone is getting ready for the day.

I arrive approximately an hour early. I want to have time to finish tweaking my set up and take a look around. Every year a lot of the same vendors return with their beautiful work (some, this is their only show) and every year there are a lot of newbies. In all four years I have been placed in the back hall, I have been next to newbies. It’s fun meeting new vendors where this is their first year vending, or even this is their first show!

I love it! It’s awesome to see people take the same step as me into the world of vending. It’s encouraging seeing all the new techniques and skills vendors display. And I enjoy welcoming newbies into the fold and giving them encouragement and suggestions to help them with their booth set up, prices, and hope to help them increase sales. We are a community and should support each other.

This year, I was in the middle of two different vendors who have never participated in this event. One, was a veteran vendor, who was disappointed with her sales… Honestly, I wished I’d written a review sooner in the hopes that I could have provided her with the right information to better inform her decision to participate in this show. My other neighbor, this was her second show ever!

The day progressed as usual. The crowds come in waves. I can tell you this year was slow compared to the previous three years. And there were a lot less buyers this year. I found it odd. I actually made 1/3 of what I make last year at this event. But then I recall the main bridge in Fairport was closed this year. I’m thinking with the bridge out, we had less people willing to make the trip to the school on the other side.

Last year (2018) was a weird year. The wind storm had broken several windows in the cafeteria before the event. The committee did not want to cancel the event and so they rearrange the show to be on several different levels of the school in the hallways. It was strange, and yet the customers still came and shopped.

This year, with everything back to normal, I saw less customers and even less were buying. It’s a reminder that you never know what an event can bring from year to year.

Lessons Learned

1. Design your booth before hand

I’m a weirdo and I like to have a game plan before I arrive. And that game plan typically is, I want the table here and I’ll figure out the rest when I get there!

I have yet to do the exact same set up twice. I have found certain things work better then others and so I will keep those elements the same. Maybe one day I will figure out the magical formula and stick to it. Until then, I’ll keep switching it up.

But I digress. This events booth spaces are tight in hallways or back to back with other vendors. Make sure you design your both to allow your display to fit and if you’re behind your tables, plan for an opening to get in and out of easily within your allotted space.

I honestly thought this was common sense… Then I started setting up my booth space right up next to my neighbor who already had a bunch of tables set up. Her tables were actually over the painters tape on the floor in my space… I very politely told her and she immediately moved her tables into her own space.

As I started to set up, that very same neighbor became upset that I had not left a walkway space for her next to her table in my allotted space. At this point, I was tired from working all day (which had run late), grumpy because I hadn’t eaten that day, and I was ready to go home. So I bluntly told her it was the space I paid for and therefore I could use it however I liked. And if she needed a space to get in and out of her booth, then she was going to have to find it in her booth some how because there is NO extra space between booths. I also explained that most events wanted to maximize the amount of vendors and therefore did not include any room between vendors as extra space.

I hope that was not rude, but I cannot help what comes out of my mouth when I am tired, hungry, and grumpy.

I literally designed my booth to fit in the 5×11 space exactly since I did not do my typical 2 booths at this event this year. That meant I had no extra room to spare my neighbor.

It ended up working out for her because the vendors on the other side of her booth never showed up, so she was able to shift into their empty space.

2.Same show, different year

This is my forth year at this event and it was very different than the first 3 years. I did decent my first three years. I made enough that I didn’t mind setting up and tearing down for a one day event.

However, this year I didn’t do so well. I’m wondering if it was because my heart wasn’t into it. I’d made the decision before the show this year that this year would be my last time at this event. I was sad to make the decision, but I am at the point in my vending career that one day events are not worth it and I know of several two day events that occur the same weekend that I’d rather be a part of.

Did my lack of enthusiasm kill my sales? Probably. Which leaves me with the next lesson:

3. Your lack of enthusiasm will be felt by customers!

Seriously, sitting behind your display, hiding and not conversing with customers will kill your sales every time.

I was exhausted for this event this year and did not have my normal energy to greet every customer and talk to everyone. Instead, I tucked myself behind my display, knitted, and watched customers browse and did not jump out with information like I usually do.

I’m almost 100% certain this lack of interest in my customers caused a lack of interest in my product and therefore less sales.

4. NEVER DROP YOUR PRICES AT A SHOW!

Rant time. I know my neighbors were new to vending, but they committed so many no-nos. Like setting up in their neighbors space and then expecting them to leave a space to access their booth. About an hour into the show they started shouting $5 off everything on the table! *Their entire booth was tables… This meant they decided to do $5 off everything in their stock.

As soon as they did this, I noticed a sharp decline in sales at my booth and more people hurrying through… So my motherly instincts kicked in and I immediately went over in a friendly manner and explained to this vendor that they should NEVER lower their prices. Why? Because it makes you look cheap. It makes customers think your work is cheep. No one will want to purchase your creations because they loose respect when you lower your price.

For example: I had 2 100% alpaca Mobious Shawls available last year at Canandaigua Christkindl Market priced at $120 each. They did not sell… I was so confused. They are hand woven, beautiful neutral colors, and so soft! $120 was a VERY good price for 100% alpaca. On a whim I raised the prices to $160. Both sold this year at Canandaigua Christkindl Market. Mind blown.

I think the higher price made those shawls seem more worthy to my customers. The lower price said they were low quality, and no one purchased them. Don’t be afraid to price something a little higher, because you never know what might happen. And if nothing happens, you can always lower your price later. Just don’t do it half-way through a show…

Recommendations

This is an amazing show to begin with! The crowds are just enough to not be overwhelming and there are always people buying. This year was weird and the more I think about, I think the main bridge in Fairport may have caused the decline in numbers this year. Next year the bridge should be open before this event so the numbers should be back up.

I always suggest purchasing one booth the first year you do an event to see how things go, unless your adventurous and want to go with two. This is a cheaper event to do that and the money goes to a Fairport Central School District senior as a scholarship, so the money is well spent.

This is a holiday craft show, so if you think your product will make a great gift, then this is a good market to sell your goods in.

I do recommend smaller items in the $5-25 range are best. Remember, the event is tight with narrow aisles between the vendors. Customers do not want to carry large items around and finally out to their car. Items that fit easily in a purse or bag are more likely to be purchased.

Most of the items I sell at this event are priced $2-$15. I may sell one maybe two higher priced items at this event, if I’m lucky.

Remember, the key to this event is making things that people want to give as gifts for the holiday season. That’s what they are there for. Most are not there to shop for themselves, though they can be persuaded they need a particular item.

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Were you a part of this festival? Please tell me about your experience below in the comments 🙂