Craft Fairs, Craft fairs and makers fairs

I originally set out to write this post about my experience of booking onto craft fairs when on a small, tight budget. However, at the time of writing this post, I have completed two craft fairs, both very different and with differing results, so the scope of this post has widened and hopefully you can pick up a few tips for future reference.

September is turning out to be a particularly busy month for me. Somehow I managed to book myself onto three craft fairs across three weekends on the run. I’ve managed to get myself confused, unconfused and confused again. 

Two fairs I’ve had my eye on for ages and couldn’t get on an earlier fair either because it was fully booked or I was simply booked for something else. Signing up to email lists has been both a great help and a bit annoying. It has helped me stay ahead of the curve and book onto fairs early but for the weekends I am already booked up or simply skint I’m annoyed I can’t book on.

So what happens when that does happen?

Two things, I generally email the organiser and ask can I book on but pay at a later date if my bank account is feeling the pinch (my main part-time job pays the bills and I get paid monthly) and I also ask if there are any other fairs on another date.

I know the organiser of my first fair pretty well after doing regular fairs with her in 2016 and she’s aware that I work part-time in another job, so quite often I will email and ask her if I can pay her in two halves, and if there is any problems with payment to let me know as soon as she can. This proves to be quite affordable for example £10 in one month and £10 the following month is often less daunting than £20 in one month when you have £25 to spare (figures made up, not representative of actual costs in this case).

The second fair gave a deadline for payment and as it happened, it was at the end of August, just before I got paid!

My third fair was quite different, the cost was a lot less than I anticipated and I had the cash available to pay for it even after paying for the other two fairs.

So what happened?

For the first fair – the Great British Weather happened. The fair was outdoors, in a park. It rained while we were setting up the gazebos, the wind picked up and we were picking up stock that was being blown about and attaching it to our tables as we continued to set up. We trusted that the weather was going to at least dry up. It didn’t. 

look carefully at the background, you can see the side billowing in with the wind

Over the few hours I was there I saw many people end up packing up and going, some hadn’t even been there an hour. One didn’t even set up and left the site as soon as they had arrived!

I lasted just over 4 hours from set up before leaving early. I never leave early unless under exceptional circumstances like selling out, equipment failure, another engagement I need to get to straight after the event (and prior arrangement with the organiser). As I was deciding that maybe I do need to go early, I wandered over to the organiser to have a quick chat and explained everything: I had barely a look and those who did give me a glance didn’t come under the gazebo to even say hi, and those who did decided that they didn’t want to buy my jewellery after all, my stock was now falling over at random intervals straight onto the floor because the wind was picking up again and despite my several layers I was getting colder. Everything was okay and I gave it another 30 minutes before I started to pack up and in that short time I had another couple of sales (the best I’d had since setting up) and a few people taking business cards.

I’ve done a few outdoor fairs over the past two years and I always learn things for myself and to pass on to others, so here are a few tips for outdoor fairs

• If you are planning to do fairs regularly, get  a gazebo. If it’s a one off, borrow one or arrange to share with another trader if possible. If you can’t to any of these, don’t do an outdoor fair.
• Yes I’m being harsh, but I have seen too many people who have arrived at outdoor fairs without any sort of shelter and their stock gets wet because it has started raining in spite of the weather forecasts (it is Britain after all and we can get four seasons in one day) and start to complain that their stock is being ruined - they cannot blame anyone except themselves for being unprepared.
• Sometimes, depending on the venue, you won’t need a gazebo because you are in a sheltered spot and it is a beautiful day, but don’t take it for granted that this is the case. I’ve done outdoor fairs and not used my gazebo but I have always brought it.

• Make sure your gazebo will stand up to wind and rain. 

• Garden gazebos might be dirt cheap, but they are probably too light weight. They are more likely to buckle under strong winds and you will need to get another one. There are plenty found under £100 that withstand wind and rain pretty well.
• Get a gazebo with cross wind bars either integral (best) or additional to the frame itself (good) and make sure they are used! Get a full set of sides for your gazebo if it doesn’t already come with them to give some shelter.
• Get some gazebo/tent weights, either the type where you fill bottles and put them in a bag which goes around the ‘legs’ of the tent or weights that go over the ‘feet.’ I’ve learned that 5kg per ‘leg’ is generally a good weight to keep it on the ground
• Don’t remove the weights before you have put everything away except for the main frame of the gazebo and only them remove them when you have help to put the gazebo down (I learned this after not doing this and a freak gust of wind on a lovely hot sunny day ended my gazebo and sent it into a car’s boot!)
• Don’t forget long heavy duty tent pegs! I’ve done this a couple of times much to my shame!

• Layer up and put some newspaper in your shoes

• Some of my favourite fairs have been Christmas ones and it is cold, but lining my shoes with newspaper and putting on two pairs of socks on ensures my feet stay warmer for longer

• Take a nice flask of tea, coffee or hot beverage of your choice.

• Or change for a nice large cup of any of the above!

• Ask for help to set up the gazebo 

• Traders are usually a friendly lot and will help out!

The second fair was completely different, it was indoors and at a venue I haven’t been to before. It is a venue that is well attended by customers  during the week and it is big enough to hold a number of traders. I didn’t do that great cash-wise, as there were a lot of people there who were clearly coming to browse and only maybe think of buying. The venue usually sells homeware and furniture and I think this is probably what a lot of the customers were looking for - small handmade homewares and similar gifts so I probably wasn’t best placed. I also noticed another five stalls all selling jewellery including one that was right next to mine!

Thankfully, the two of us sold very different types of jewellery, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t difficult for us to compete with the other jewellery stall holders.

Indoor setting up

I’ve taken a few thoughts away from this:

• For newish venues, ask if there are any other traders selling jewellery - one or two others amongst 30 is okay, but six or seven is a bit much!
• When looking to book new venues, profile the area - see what the local demographic is and are they likely to buy, browse or ignore you? (it’s happened to me before!)
• Are there any other similar events happening in the area at the same time - is this more suited to you?

A lot of people who I spoke to were interested in getting Christmas presents in the next couple of months, so I have put my name down for a later fair, but I will be checking on how many other jewellery sellers will be there before I pay.

I’ve another fair this weekend and it’s yet another new venue for me. I haven’t had time to do the profiling and I suspect that there will be a few jewellery sellers but I am making new stock to fit into the fair-type. I’ll let you know how I go with that one.

Until next time...