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.
45,000 people come to the Montrose Arts & Crafts Festival.
They say.
Last year may not have been a good representation, though, with temperatures soaring over 100*. We still had an OK outing, though (read about our 2016 event, here). And this year, the forecast is better, with the high on both days projected at 83. In addition, we have the coolest booth on the street, with a giant shade tree.
Maybe our patrons will linger in the coolness that is our booth.
Last year, this was one of our most expensive events ever. This year, that’s no longer the case. The vendor fees aren’t cheap ($650 for a double booth with an open aisle on one side), but we’ve definitely paid more. We’ve also had much better sales at other events. This year, we’re hoping to do better than last year – and if we do, it’ll be the first event this year at which we’ve done better than in 2016.
It’s the end of the Spring Fling … think we can gather some momentum and have a very nice event?
New Ideas
- Back to our pop-up canopies this week; the early Saturday morning set-up has dissuaded us from doing the 10×20 Trimline canopy. It adds 30+ minutes to both the set up and the take down. It’s worth it … but when time is of the essence, we need to use the pop-ups.
- I don’t like leaving the trailer parked on public streets, and this event does not provide any off-street parking. At all. So, I drove the empty trailer home Saturday night and then back to the event Sunday morning. Velda especially loves the rattling & bouncing of the empty trailer.
Observations
- Spring Fling event # 7 of 7.
- 7 events, 7 weeks.
- Done.
- Just like last year, I’m across the aisle – about 10′ away – from a direct competitor. Exotic Chopping Blocks is the company name, and the woodworker is Glenn. His style is very different from mine, though we do make some similar boards (cheese boards, especially). We’re really OK being in close proximity – we both like our current booth locations, so we’re not moving. Not ideal, but we’re both OK. We enjoy the camaraderie, for sure.
- We both get comments, though: “Don’t you hate being right by that guy?” “Are you in business together?”
- This event is in downtown Montrose, and there’s a lot of early/late walkthru traffic with people going to get a coffee, going out to eat, or going to the farmer’s market. That business outside of the published hours of the event is significant … I sold the last chess board before we “opened” at 10am Saturday.
- Why do people touch a board, and then do a double tap on the surface with a finger? Are they verifying that the wood is an unyielding surface to a fingertip? I’ve seen so many people do this; it’s an odd human habit.
- A mother and daughter were having fun looking at boards, choosing which big board they wanted. Eventually, the daughter said, “we’ll do this next year.” The healthy-looking mother said, “I might be dead next year.” The daughter walked away. The mom did return to the booth later, but didn’t buy. No clue what that human drama meant!
- Saturday was down 20% from prior year. Not looking good….
- Overheard: “I pocket dialed you? I don’t know how to do that. I’ve heard about it, but I don’t know how to do it.”
- Standing in the booth, we heard a pop and then a loud “SSSSSS.” We looked at each other … what was that? Someone passing by the booth told us: a branch had broken off the tree, landed on the canopy above our heads, and then slid down the canopy roof into the gutter between the canopy where it stopped. Odd sound for a random occurrence!
- Sunday picked up, thankfully, but still was short of last year’s “heat impacted” results. Is this just not that good of an event?
- Tear down was at 5pm, and we started promptly.
- A mom & 2 teenagers wandered by at 5:25pm:
- She said: “I really like this board.”
- Son said: “You should get it.”
- I said: “I like your kids.”
- She said: “Do you have anything in Walnut?”
- I said: “I do. Here’s a Cheese & Cracker Server in pure Black Walnut.”
- Daughter said: “You should get it.”
- I said: “I really like your kids.”
- Everyone smiled.
- She bought the Black Walnut Cheese & Cracker Server, plus a couple of soaps for the kids. That $92 walk-up transaction with a lady that had no idea the event was happening, over 30 minutes after the event “closed,” put us over the top. For the first time this year at a repeated event, we beat last year’s number! But, even better, by an eyelash ….
Best. Spring. Fling. Ever.
- Requests were for a fleur de lis-shaped board, a board with plastic cutting board inserts, a cheese & cracker server with a larger glass dome, a board for cutting turkey (massive juice groove), a board with a meat hook to easily flip meat over (huh?), a big lazy Susan/compartmentalized serving piece and another request for a board with an over-sized juice groove. Oh, and the # 1 requested item? Yup. Chess boards.
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Jack In The Box # 23. I’m moving JITB off of my approved list for breakfast.
Saturday Lunch: Velda’s cheese & cracker plate, with a fruity assist from our friend, Jan.
Saturday Snack: Nope
Saturday Dinner: A chicken burrito at Margaritas, still our go to for Mexican food in SCV
Sunday Breakfast: Hello, old friend.
Sunday Lunch: Soupy pizza from the joint down the street … easy, but very disappointing.
Sunday Snack: Paradis ice cream. Yum. There’s another reason why we like this booth location!
Sunday Dinner: Chicken Parm at the best Italian restaurant in the SCV: Bella Cucina.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 140
- Booth cost: $650
- Food cost: $227
- Travel cost: $73
- Total sales: $2,150
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $ 1,127
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: 1
- Saturday alarm: 4:30a
- Sunday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 35+
- # soap & lotion vendors: Several, though none had the range of products that Mrs M offers. Together, though, there were many competitors
- # woodworking vendors: Several, including 1 cutting board maker … and, I believe, 1 cutting board importer at this “exclusively” handmade event
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 9:0
- Returning next year? Probably.
Boards sold: 20
Magic Bottle Openers: 6
Lazy Susans: 3
Cheese Boards: 3
Cheese & Cracker Servers: 2
Cutting Board: 1
Large Cutting Board: 1
Small Surfboard: 1
Medium Surfboard: 1
Wine Bottle Holder: 1
Chess Board: 1
As always it was wonderful being your neighbor! I am a firm believer that next year will be even better! You will have to include a litter of pigs and a family of bears:)
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