The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.
One way you find new events is to meet their event coordinators at your current events. At the Agua Dulce Country Fair, we met the coordinator for a self-described Holiday Boutique at nearby Vasquez High School in Acton. The event was to run 2 – 8pm last Saturday, so it allowed me to to help set up the Saturday morning event for the elder Mrs M before I went to Acton to run this event.
Very bright & bubbly event coordinator greeted me, and she pointed me to the booth space. Now we just had to find out … would we meet our modest goal of $350 in sales?
New Ideas
- We’ve been here before. Well, not really. Never been to the Home of the Mustangs before. But then, neither have they. The event was in the courtyard of the new gym, which is currently under construction and will be the site of the event next year. Allegedly.
- Single booth set-up with lights. This is exactly like the set-up we did for the Farmer’s Markets last March. Not a new idea, but we haven’t done it in a while. What’s new? After too many large one day events, we’re not traveling so heavy. I loved this cut down set-up for a 6 hour event.
Observations
- Actual thoughts:
- Common Wisdom, “Don’t do first-time events.”
- I thought, “But it fits on our calendar so well!”
- When we set up, other vendors envy our DIY weights. We get weight envy.
- Weights are essential in Acton, where wind. Blows. We had 20 MPH gusts throughout set-up. When the event organizers are making the rounds with free sandbags, you know they’re concerned – and prepared!
- Overheard:
- She said: “Juniors & Freshman are like a thing this year, huh?”
- He said: “Yeah, it sure seems like it.”
- When it gets dark, other vendors envy our spectacular lights. We get light envy.
- This wasn’t a vendor event, really. It was a high school Halloween carnival/fund raiser. Booths run by cheerleaders, sports teams & other groups of students trying to raise funds to pay for their program. Did we make our goal? No way.
- During the load out, I broke our folding 2-wheel cart. Ooops. I guess it wasn’t made to transport 100 pounds of DIY weights. We don’t get cart envy, that’s for sure.
- If you’ll forgive the sports analogy, this event was strike 2. We’re nowhere near our goal of $1,000 in sales this weekend. Will our Sunday event get it done? Tune in tomorrow!
The Food
Saturday Lunch: a protein bar I got from Mrs M … and a bag of Chex mix. High living.
Saturday Snack: nope
Saturday Dinner: Izzy’s Tacos was there, just as they were at the Agua Dulce Country Fair. One taco & and half of a Chicken Quesadilla on a homemade tortilla. Again, high living. But tasty.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 86
- Booth cost: 10% of sales
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
- Total sales: $183
- # containers of product taken: 11
- # boards available: 52
- Saturday alarm: 6a
- # transactions: 9
- # soap & lotion vendors: just us
- # woodworking vendors: just us
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 2:0
Boards sold: 2
Cutting Board: 1
Cheese Board: 1
