Doing another show
Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA
>I don't know if this is a good idea, but I am going to give it a try. I was contacted yesterday with an invitaiton to participate in a juried show. I usually don't do shows, with the one exception being the one in my own shop, but this one has some potential good, as well as some potential bad to go along with it.
On the good side, it is local to me, only about six miles down the road. At the least it will be some exposure to the locals. It is timed to coincide with a huge antique auction at a well known auction house in town. We'll see if there is any cross over of customers. It also is not that expensive. There will be food and music as well.
On the potential bad side, I am pretty sure this is a first year thing. I did a first year show many moons ago for the Police Athletic league. They did a terrible job of promotion, the place was crawling with no one but cops, and the wind blew so hard that I had to put most of my stuff away. I sold one piece for $25.00, which did not even come close to recouping my investment in the show fee and the tent rental. The crowning experience was when my oldest daughter, who was seven at the time flung the car door into the side of a brand new car owned by a very surly detective.
A good friend of mine has offered me the use of his KD booth, so there is no expense there. I am all set up to take credit cards off site. I've got to come up with some stock in trade, since I was picked clean during the Christmas season, and with students and custom orders I have not had much chance to build up inventory. But, I have a whole six weeks to get ready! What could go wrong? ;-)
If anyone here has any experiences to share with outdoor shows, I would be interested to hear them. My buddy who is loaning me the booth has all the goodies to go with it like zippered sides, stakes to hold it down, etc, so I should be in good shape there, but I would be interested in hearing what others have been through, good or bad.
Bill