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.
Santa Barbara artists have a virtual monopoly on events in their city. Most events require you to be a county resident to be a vendor. When the opportunity came up to represent at an event in Santa Barbara, I was very interested.
This promoter does 3 home & garden shows in Santa Barbara (and one in Santa Maria) every year. It fit on the calendar.
Let’s see what all the fuss is about in Santa Barbara.
New Ideas
- Same setup as last week in Visalia. I didn’t even unload the trailer.
- I had a corner location with a wall that extended forward to the door … and the promoter invited me to fill the space. I was happy to oblige with an extra table that I dedicated to a cutting board display. I sold 3 boards off of that “feature” table.
Observations
- Got to the venue for setup, and found they had me in a single booth. I asked the promoter if that was a mistake, and she put me in a double. After researching everything following the event, I believe the mistake was mine, but she had the space, so it all worked out.
- But … I was right by the exit. I an superstitious about being by the door, but whachagonnado?
- This is a relatively small event, with about 70 vendors. All were indoors. Some traditional home show businesses (AC repair, window replacement, bath remodel, etc). Some buy & sell, from Scentsy to import crap. A few artists. And me.
- The first buy & sell vendor left at 1:30p on Saturday, after only 3-1/2 hours. I mean, it was slow, but, wow.
- I didn’t sell anything until 3p on Saturday. In the next 2 hours, I sold 15 pieces, including 5 cutting boards. Patience is a virtue.
- A self-professed turner came into the booth, talked about her passion for the hobby … and bought 2 cutting boards. Loved that!
- As at most shows, I was asked if I was local. I generally responded that I was “local-ish,” from 2 hours away. 2 of the questioners talked about how they wish there were local artists here.
- What is it with the insular approach to art vendors in Santa Barbara? That’s a mystery to me.
- Sunday started slow … and stopped. Not. Good.
- This weekend, I could have done the nearby Goleta Lemon Festival, which we’ve done a couple of times previously. That event has not proven very profitable, so I though I’d try something new. This event … was a bit worse.
- Requests were for an elephant board, surfboards (I’ve been out for months now), in-counter boards, and a few custom boards “with details to follow.” We’ll see; good follow up orders could make this event more interesting for next year. Without them ….
The Food
- Best Meal: Woodstock Pizza, Henry’s MOS. Best pizza I’ve had in some time.
- Honorable Mention: Hello, Old Friend
- Worst Meal: Chicken & Fries from the diner @ the Showground. The fries were not edible.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 176
- Booth cost: $500
- Food cost: $96
- Travel cost: $315
- Total sales: $1,365
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $454
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: several
- Saturday alarm: nope
- Sunday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 10
- # soap & lotion vendors: there was one; she had a big bath bomb display
- # woodworking vendors: one of the artists there did woodburning, but not woodworking, really. She just decoratively burned pieces of wood.
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 15:4. Amazing.
- Returning next year? Doubtful.
Boards sold: 19
6x Cutting Boards
6x Trivets
2x Word Blocks
2x CNC Signs
1x Cheese Board
1x 5 Section Server
1x Custom Order
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