You have to start somewhere

Well, the big day was nearly 2 weeks ago, so I have enough distance from it to look back and see it with a bit of persepective. I'm glad we did it. It was not the most financially profitable day, but it was profitable from an educational point of view.

I learned a lot, the primary lesson: get your advertising out WELL in ADVANCE of the event!Get your advertising out to the largest audience you can reach. Your regular list is only a starting place. Make extra postcards/printed invites so you can hand them out to anyone curious enough to ask about the show. I took some with me to church because some people had asked me how they could see/buy my stuff. Those people did not show up, though I was happily surprised to see some others who I'd given invites to quite spontaneously.

Setting up the night before is much easier than set up in the morning. It was wonderful to wander back over once my house was asleep and keep tweaking things in my display.

Food is good, cold drinks on hot humid (seriously rainy) days are necessary.

I was really glad that we were indoors and that there is a roof over the sidewalk outside, since it rained off and on all day.

Rain is not your friend if you are hoping for large crowds.

Once is not enough. Since the studio space is mine I don't have to worry about travel or inconvenient schedules set by festival organizers. I am hoping to have a similar show in the fall, closer to holiday shopping season. Next time we will get the word out well in advance and to a broader audience.

Jenny has done lots of craft shows, large and small. I'm still pretty new to this kind of thing so I was really happy to have a chance to use this as an opportunity to think about how to set up my table for FaerieCon in November. For that reason alone I am very glad to have done all that work; the good company and any new exposure was a happy bonus.