The Board Chronicles: Sherman Oaks Street Fair 2018

henrymowry

7 years ago

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.

I’m gaining on my back log of blog posts, honest. I keep whittling away … and SWEAR I will not do an event while not having published the previous year’s blog (and I’m close to that!). In any event, from Sherman Oaks:

This is a main street event for a relatively affluent community in the San Fernando Valley. I’ve tried to find more events in the Valley, this is one … and it’s one day event.

Oh well. It fits on the calendar. Let’s give it a whirl.

New Ideas

One day event, with a Jeep load in. Going old school for this one.

Observations

Definitely found getting into the event a challenge. There were volunteers, but I was there on time and the line was, uh, not quite formed yet. Once I got by the guy with the clipboard, the street was wide open. Only a few booths had started setting up. Time to find my place in the world.
Lots of amateurs here. First timers, even. Not. Good.
A question that I’ve never been asked before: “What’s a Foodie?”
Uh … read the sign.
I want to make spoons. I need to make spoons.
This event had more than its fair share of shade stealers. It was a hot October day, I get it … but my shade is provided for my customers. Please.
Worse than a shade stealer was the table swipe by a Mom’s Purse … knocking a board onto the ground. Mom didn’t notice.
With only the room in the Jeep, inventory was necessarily limited. But I was still frustrated when I was asked for a chess board and a cribbage board. They were at home.
I believe I need to have standards, and here it is: I don’t want to set up for less than $1,000 in sales. This event did less than half of that … so there you go.