Tuesday, August 27, 2013

An Event

Over the weekend, I attended (as a vendor) the Vergennes Day festivities. It's been a while since I did a booth (last year I did one on the spur of the moment for a mini-event, that didn't go well), but before that it had been a very long time.

I stopped doing booths because I felt like I hadn't quite figured out what to offer in order to be successful at an event like that. Having your own art booth is very different from selling paintings in a gallery or online. More, each venue is different. Some are art focused, and so people will come expecting to spend money on fine art or prints. Others are crafting events, so they might have been thinking that there might be some art there, but are perhaps looking more for something knitted or nailed together. More, like this last one, people have no expectations at all, except for perhaps food.

If I had only gone into the food business, I'd be raking it in at these events! People do love to eat!

I'm pleased to say that I think this booth went well. No one was expecting art there, but I still made a decent amount of sales. I had prepared by matting prints and having other things to offer like greeting cards and postcards, in addition to a smattering of originals (I didn't bring many though, this being a non-art event.) Basically, I had my price points covered, from $1 and up!

The greeting cards. I'm selling them as an Alice in Wonderland set. 

All the new prints. I much prefer to offer them matted, because I think they look nicer.

My booth came together at the last moment, and while I need to figure some other things out, I was not unhappy with it. Of course, there is always a catch and mine came in the form of a giant road cone:



Is that snazzy, or what? It turns out that there was a huge hole right in the center of the booth that the grass had grown level in, rendering it invisible. First my husband twisted his ankle in it, and a little while later I took a header in it myself. We talked to an organizer of the event, and her solution was to swipe a traffic cone from the 5K race (I hope it wasn't anything important...) and plop it right over the hole. I don't think it helped my booth appeal all that much, unfortunately. Also, several people who did stop in got goosed by it, because it's exactly that height. *sigh*

I only worked on one ACEO to pass the time:

Colored pencil on black illustration board.

And I hung out with my husband, who in general was bored out of his mind. BUT! He was there and supportive, and was much appreciated! He's going to help me with a few future booths as well, but I think he's most looking forward to the big one in October where there will be beer and wine vendors. Somehow, I think he'll be much happier during that two day event than he was with this one day event!

It's actually because I did well enough that I'm going to sign up for the bigger (WAY more expensive) event in October. It's an actual art fest, so my hope is that I'll do much better than I did here.

In other news, school is finally starting! Both my kids will head back on Wednesday, and I should finally be able to start working on something bigger than an ACEO! Oh, speaking of which, I have been getting requests for prints that size. So, that's one more thing to add to my list of need to do/have's.

Me, hanging in my booth on Saturday. Perhaps a wee bit sweaty (it was hot at times!)

10 comments:

  1. you are so beautiful Kyra. Beautiful and kind. You look like a kind woman.

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    1. You know, that is one of the nicest things ever said about a picture of me! :) Thank you!

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  2. Sorry, I'm laughing about the goosing! LOL! I feel for you! But, I have to admit, your booth looked excellent! I'm so happy you did well ;o) Beautiful picture of you! Your new aceo is precious! Love it! Have a great day ;o) Hugs ;o)

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  3. The booth really looks really nice! Did I see plants there? :-)
    And I totally have to agree with Ana, you are beautiful and I know you are really kind not just in appearance.

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    1. I brought fake plants with me. It just made it a little nicer! :) And thank you, Nadia!

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  4. That picture of you is gorgeous!

    That cone is so not cool! I would've seen about a partial refund. But that's me....I want things to be fair. I'm always the one my friend and family elect to speak when a problem needs to be addressed....haha!

    I can't wait to hear how your big show goes in October! You have lots of beautiful work to choose from that is so fitting for that time of year! I think it'll be great!

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    1. Aww thanks Cameron! I didn't ask for a refund, I made a decent amount there. No one could have anticipated the hole. Ahh well!

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  5. Kyra, You are so pretty! Well, once we had a tree branch poking itself into the center of our booth. The promoters sawed it off! As far as shows, I have been doing them on a regular basis for nearly 30 years now and I know one thing for sure: You will never be able to figure out what to bring to a show,it is always hit and miss.

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  6. Sweaty or not, you look lovely. I think that booths are a constant work in progress. With each show we learn something and the next show we correct the flaws of the last show and try out something different.

    I used to do the art shows but I needed my hubby to help me, after several years he was getting tired of it so I decided to retire from that venue and tried my hand at online selling. To be truthful online selling has not been nearly as successful for me as the shows were, I sold more in one show than I sold all year long on etsy. I think people tend to be tactile, they like to not only see the item but to touch it and, in the case of jewelry, try it on, which is something they cannot do online, unfortunately.

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