getting fair-ready

I have few craft fairs under my belt by now. However, whenever one comes around, I'm consumed by a mixture of anxiety and excited. On the one hand, it's always fun to see people's reaction to one's handy work first hand. On the other, there's an extremely high amount of work involved when getting ready for a selling event. But here's a few things that I've learned along the way to help me prepare and hopefully they'll be useful to anyone out there who joins the craft fair circuit.

1. Give yourself at least 1 month to make all your merchandise
I say "1 month" because you may have to contend with many things unforeseen such as the debut of a new item which ends up flopping during the creation process. But rest assure, because you started working on your both early, you now have the luxury of heading back to the drawing board to work out some of the kinks.

2. Stand out amongst a sea of vendors
I'm sure you all already know that it's very important to make your stand as unique as the work that is being showcased in it. This is an especially poignant fact when selling at a fair where attendees are confronted by rows and rows of 10x10ft tents. But this doesn't have to be a costly matter. One, when purchasing your own tent, opt for a color other than white or a color that best highlights your goods. You can also take an extra step by setting some time aside to paint your logo or cool stripes onto the top of the tent in acrylic or fabric paint. Two, if putting your logo onto the tent isn't for you-make yourself a sign. It doesn't have to be fancy. A sign can be as simple as painting your name onto some scrap wood that's been given some love. Or, if painting just isn't your thing. You can print out your logo and frame it in a good size frame which you can place near the front of your tent.

One more thing, don't plastic picnic table are great for these events because they're big and easy to transport. But always tote along a nice tablecloth to cover 'em in.

3.Be sure your comfortable, well-fed & well-hydrated
Be prepared to spend most of your day at the event and that means you may have a few of your meals while there so the morning of pack a foldable chair/camping bench and cooler with drinks and food for you and any helpers that may come along for the ride. Buying more than one meal can really eat into your profits and run as high as $25 per person for an 8-hour day.

4.Change please!
Make a run to the bank a couple days before to grab plenty of change. Chances are you're going to get enough visitors who will buy $1, $7, or even $15 items with $5, $10, or even $20-dollar bills. I like to travel with $20 in "ones" and $25 in "fives."

*Also, you may want to keep everything priced in whole dollar amounts to avoid having to keep coin change on you-sometimes this just complicates things.

**If you're in a space that offers Wi-fi, open a Paypal account and bring along your labtop in preparation for any fans who want to purchase something but have no cash or a checkbook on them. Hey, it happens.

5.Pricing for all
Pricing-AHHHHHH! I hate it too. For one thing, you want to make some money but not at the cost of practically giving your work away. A wise thing to do is first, have a wide selection of both inexpensive and "finer" items at your station. For you the artist, this can also translate into "inexpensive" meaning objects that didn't take up too much labor/costly materials and "finer" meaning those one-of-a-kind special items like paintings or decadent handmade jewelry. By offering both high and low merchandise, you give everyone who visits an opportunity to walk away with one of your special treats.

Of course, everyone will run into their own experiences but I offer these tid-bits of wisdom to make the venture of selling outdoors all the more pleasant for any of you who possess the will to do so. Happy hunting!