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.
Remember me? Remember how I used to write things?
I’m back.
I’ve done the Fresno H&G a few times, and it’s time to crank it up in 2022.
Finally.
Read about my past experiences here: 2019, 2018 and 2017. Interesting that 2017 was my first solo event, ever. Now, I don’t know how to act if Mrs M shows up … and she hasn’t made soap in quite a while. Don’t bother her, she has a wedding to help plan.
But back to going a-vendoring.
New Ideas
I got moved to a new building this time … because my old building was undergoing renovations and was unavailable. I did not receive word from the promoter until late, well after I was paid in full and most booths were booked. We had a, uh, disagreement about what should happen to my booth. I didn’t respond well to the pressure sales tactics, which stated that they would not charge me for moving my booth to a new location.
Note to sales reps, everywhere: beware trying to pressure an old sales manager. It will not end well for you.
I finally stated I would move to a building that met these criteria: 1) not near another woodworker, 2) not near dogs up for adoption and 3) not near loud, amplified-selling “sideshow barker” type presentations.
My sales reps’ recommendation failed on point 2. Completely.
So, I, uh, suggested that she not book that location and then I suggested a location near the craft cocktail booths (and an open bar, come to find out). My new home was building # 4 … which, in the time-honored tradition of the Fresno Home & Garden Show, was known as “MORE EXHIBITS.”
Observations
I arrived at the Fairgrounds at about noon on Thursday, with 8 hours to set up the booth. I asked directions to building # 4, and parked the trailer with pretty good access to my new home.
Set up began as soon as I checked in at Building # 2, I think it was (AKA “MORE EXHIBITS”). I had discovered a problem as I unloaded the trailer … table cloths had not made it into the trailer. They were at home, over 3 hours away. And in 2022 gas, that would be …
Luckily, Exhibitor Services fixed me right up with hotel banquet-table-style plastic tops & skirting for all 10 of my tables. And it was def def definitely cheaper than the gas would have been to go home.
My spiffy wooden name tag is missing. No clue where it got to.
The vendor behind me was a rock n’ roll hair salon, selling hair care products (Hair dryers & such. The prices were way more than I expected. Like, way more. Don’t buy hair dryers at home & garden shows is my recommendation.)
I am pleased to report the rock ‘n roll hair salon turned down their music. And I didn’t even have to sic music licensing agencies such as ASCAP or BMI on them. Something I was contemplating, to be honest.
Fresno is an agricultural area, so it’s inevitable that I am approached by well-meaning ranchers that want to give me their trees. Not lumber, which I might be able to use, but their trees. Sorry, not set up for that. I turned down old Oak and a Black Walnut stump. Unfortunately.
Fridays at home & garden shows are known for 2 things: not much traffic, and lots of senior citizens that are there for exercise and to pick up free stuff. Oh, and rain was forecast. My Friday was dead slow, until I finally sold something at 2:30pm. And then I had someone in line to give me more money while I was wrapping up purchase #1.
When it rains, it pours. HA. Weather humor.
Rain was again forecast for Saturday, but there wasn’t really much moisture in the air. It was a little wet, attendance was probably down, and it was just cold & wet all day. Temp was in the 50s. I kept my jacket on all day.
This is the 2nd event that I had Deviled Egg Platters for sale … but I only had one made. I asked Mrs M if I could borrow her personal DEP to promote special orders. She said yes … and I sold 2x “just like this one.”
Interestingly, she had a retirement party at the house for a loved colleague a few weeks ago … and I got orders for 2x large cutting boards “just like hers.”
Maybe I should try to not sell more of her stuff.
Sold my whiskey sign about Grant … it was going to be a wedding present someone in the whiskey business. If you know about General Grant, you know that is appropriate.
Had a lady that wanted to buy an oval Lazy Susan. An oval Lazy Susan. She saw nothing wrong with the idea, and I couldn’t explain the problem with a rotating oval in the middle of a dinner table in a way that she could understand. No sale there. Thankfully.
Once again, I was amazed at the people that saw crackers on my display … and decided they were free food. One guy asked if it was OK, I said no, they are stale! … and he took one anyway. That was a first.
Strollers are getting bigger. One family had dad pushing a stroller with baby, and mom pushing a foldable wagon with a toddler. That family procession was about 15′ long.
My favorite transaction of the weekend was with a group that didn’t dress like me. Mothers all had scarves or hats or something on their head. They spoke with an accent I couldn’t identify. But one of the Moms loved one of my big end grain boards, and we talked about it … but the price was too much.
An hour later, her daughter was back and wanted to see if I would sell it to her tomorrow, after she talked to her siblings about sharing the cost for their mother … as a birthday present, just 2 days away.
Sunday afternoon, the daughter was back with crisp hundred dollar bills in her hand to buy the board for momma.
I’m a sucker for that, so I gave her an unexpectedly large amount of change back. Come to find out, this is an immigrant community that had moved from Russia to Armenia to America several decades ago, and now has at least 3 culturally significant communities on the west coast. Who knew? It was nice getting to know a bit about them, and I am glad I put a smile on these American faces.
The Food
Best Meal: Nope, not this event. This is Fresno, and I’m all about saving money. I had frozen dinners and left overs from home in the hotel room each night. But, Mrs M’s cooking is WONDERFUL. That’s what I meant. Mrs M for the win.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 440
Booth cost: $1,000 for a double booth, 10×20
# of people we met during the event from the producer: I talked to four different people, but no names were exchanged. No personal touches here.
Visits in the booth by a promoter’s representative: Only when they were leaving info to solicit me to come back for the smaller fall show that conflicts with much bigger events I do in October. Nope.
Competitors: sure, though none that I found did exactly what I did. As always.
# transactions: 21 sales in 20 hours
Returning next year? Unclear to me at this point. I believe this is the best show available to me IN MARCH. I made a few dollars … literally, a few dollars. Already have one follow-up sale, though, so perhaps…. Well, Liza sang it, “What good is sitting alone in your room?” I would never compare the Fresno Home & Garden Show to a cabaret … but will I return? I simply don’t know. If gas triples in price, no.
I’m now going a-vendoring solo more often than I’m out with Mrs M. I normally double my booth to a 10×20 now. And with more space in the booth … that means I need to up my creativity to maximize each opportunity.
After all, I can’t just show up.
I have no clue what this year will turn out to be – for any of us. But I do know, when craft fairs, art shows, street festivals & such are once again happening, I better bring my best ideas to market, because I expect customers will be very choosy. Resources will be precious. I need to respect that.
When I set up my “standard” double booth these days, I put a 6′ table front & center, and then a taller 4′ table behind it. That results in good things for the look of the display.
That configuration, though, creates a 2’x2′ space behind the 6′ table that is wasteful. After all, I pay a lot of money to rent that space. How to fill it?
This is a common problem for vendors: how to fill the booth with a pleasing display. I’ve gone through several iterations for Mrs & me. Want to see our incredibly humble beginnings? Here’s booth # 1, from March 2014:
Mrs. M and Mrs. M, before they opened on their first day. Smiles on faces, and that is a very good thing!
Only one direction to go from there!
But, on to the task at hand … how to fill that 2′ x 2′ space in 2020.
After a lot of thinking, I had the idea. For me, that usually results in a high-faluting, incredibly complex plan on paper, and here was this one.
That’s 4 pages of planning! No wonder it took me months to get this built.
Note that I custom build all of my display pieces. I believe that reinforces what I do as a craftsman: customers appreciate that I make everything they see. It’s how I get the best possible display for the boards & games & such that I make. Your mileage may vary.
The final result is that I took those 4 square feet of booth space, and will now effectively display 36 handled boards! That’s far, far better than my old display for handled boards, when I just put them in a crate on a table, or hung them from the rafters so people bumped their heads on them.
Yes, it happened. More than once. And, I’m sorry.
Clearly, I needed an upgrade.
I actually have 5x different shapes that will hang from the display. For pictures of my current inventory, go to the links at the bottom of this page. For brevity, here’s a picture & description of each of the 5 boards that I have now produced for this display. Note that one shape comes either with or without juice groove … though in this shape, I view these groovy boards as having crumb catchers, not actually juice grooves. But that’s me.
OK, OK. I know. One of the designs just has a hole, not a handle … but work with me here.
So, now, to the design of the display. I had a few criteria:
The display has to come apart for transport.
Signage must be integrated.
Flexibility is a must!
The display piece stands well over 6′ tall. The base is 22″ square and is on wheels. The tower rotates on a Lazy Susan bearing, and is built (probably over-built) to reliably hold more than 100 pounds of boards. Hangers are removable, of course, and secured to the tower with french cleats. 4 bolts attach the tower to the base, and 3 attach the sign on top.
3 boards are displayed on each of the 12 pegs. 4 boards will fit, but I’m keeping the display to 3 each for both brevity and to make sure nothing will fall while customers are fondling the boards.
These pictures were taken on a windy spring day (on the patio!), and the 36x boards cards were fluttering in the breeze. I’m going to tuck those cards behind the boards when I set up the display, just to improve the look. My customers appreciate the cards, the identification of the woods and the care instructions attached to the boards … but with a breeze, they proved to be a distraction.
Lessons Learned
The tower, even with the holes cut into each side, is heavier than I had hoped. It’s primarily made from 3/4″ plywood … I should have used 1/2″, I think. Cutting the weight by 1/3 would have been good. I am debating whether to build a shelf in the trailer to transport this piece and other tall display pieces.
The Lazy Susan bearing works, but the assembly is too heavy for people to turn it comfortably, I think. That’s OK. I’ll either assist the customers, or simply let them pull the “hidden” boards from the other side of the display to see them.
Love the sign. Mrs M takes credit for the slogan. After 41 years of marriage … I let her take all of the credit she wants.
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’ve got a history with this event, so I begin cautiously. After all, this is where the Flying Dry Soup Canopy took flight … and crushed Mrs M’s Handmade. That was in 2018.
But I came back in 2019. I note Mrs M declined the opportunity; I was solo.
So, this is year 3. Once again, Mrs M has declined the opportunity to join me in Arizona. Something about her “job.” As if that could be important.
So, what will Lake Havasu City have for me … and in my first event in 2020, our 7th year as vendors?
New Ideas
The weather forecast for this year is (at last) wonderful. Blue skies & highs in the 60s on Saturday, with more of the same on Sunday … until a storm blows in late in the day. About time we have good weather for this event!
I feel like everything is new at this event, since I haven’t done any event in 60 days. And, I haven’t done this physical setup with 2 pop-up canopies & me solo since … the Simi Valley Street Fair in 2019, and that was 8 months ago. I feel like I have no clue what I’m doing.
And, yes, that is new.
Observations
The load in at 6am on Saturday was just like last year: chaotic. I was yelled at for being in someone’s way by 6:10am. And … I was parked partially IN MY BOOTH. She just didn’t like that I narrowed her path to the width of a bit more than a parking spot – that was clearly marked, and unobstructed by me.
Such is the chaos that is Winterfest load in. I emptied the trailer ASAP, and moved my Jeep & trailer out of the line of fire.
Set up, unfortunately, takes as long as it takes. These days, my full set up in a double booth takes about 4 hours. I had walkers after about 2 hours. Fortunately, they were primarily dog walkers, and they are not my buyers.
The event started hot, and traffic was significant a bit before my set up was complete. When I was done at 10am, traffic was good. Very good.
This event has 2 kinds of people in attendance: snow birds that winter in Arizona, and residents of Lake Havasu City … which are definitely weighted towards retirement age. Both have issues with my offerings: snow birds often have a need for me to ship to their home, because they are limited by the airlines for suitcase weight. Local residents don’t have that issue, but older people that are downsizing are not my crowd. People that cook & people with families that cook … those are my people.
I nearly had a fight break out over a Garlic Dipping Board that 2 ladies had their eyes on at the same time. It got a bit confusing, but eventually lady # 1 decided on something else, so lady # 2 got the GDB that she wanted. Meanwhile, lady # 1 changed her mind 4 times before finally making her selection. Eventually, her buddy asked me a question mid-transaction, causing me to lose track of where I was … and lady # 2 left, with me still having her credit card in the machine.
Oops.
She came back on Sunday to retrieve the card. And bought something else.
Last year, I met Mesquite Mary. She was an LA resident that was in the process of retiring to Lake Havasu City, where she and her husband have a 2nd home. There was a wonderful mesquite tree that they had to cut down … and she offered me the wood if I could use it.
Of course I could. She only asked that she get something that I made from the wood.
Of course I would.
But, come to find out, I couldn’t. The wood had laid out in her backyard for 2 years, and was just too old for me to use. Too many cracks.
I did give the wood to my buddy Charlie, and he was able to use the wood for turning, with cracks adding to the character of the wood. Charlie gave me a bowl he turned … and a year after I met her, I returned to Lake Havasu City with the bowl for Mary.
She was on the moon! So happy. I got a hug, even. Saturday was a happy day.
A young lady saw my Cracker Things, and didn’t think they were cute. Or clever. No, she thought they were bad ass. That’s good … but she didn’t buy one. That’s bad.
I met Rob Cook, who published Popular Woodworking in the ’90s. We had a great chat, and he complimented me on my work. Much appreciated from a real pro!
I started Sunday going walk about, and saw about half of the vendors. This is a chamber of commerce street festival … and it is *very* buy & sell. There is some handmade merchandise there, but not much. That can be a bad thing … a very bad thing … but in this case, the attendance is high enough that the event still works for me.
Thank goodness.
A Cracker Thing went to a party, I’m told. Don’t know anything about the party … but I do know that 3 ladies came to the booth on Sunday wanting to buy a Cracker Thing. Unfortunately, I had none. Sold out.
Sorry.
A couple looked at my Lazy Susans. We had a long conversation about the event, what they wanted … and how the event ended at 4 o’clock. The lady asked what my 4 o’clock cash price was for the Susan she wanted. I told her the price doesn’t change … still $80. She walked away.
Buy bye. My prices don’t change.
A couple wanted a custom cutting board for a wedding in a month. I turned it down … I have no time. No. Time.
T-shirt of the weekend: “I may be old, but I saw the great bands.” Made me laugh.
The event ended at 4 o’clock … and the weather began to turn. Clouds rolled in. Temperature dropped. Winds picked up a bit … and I knew I was in a race to get everything into the trailer before the storm hit.
I didn’t make it.
I was close. I was doing well, but I got to the part when I take the signs down when the wind started gusting. Signs hang on the walls … part of the weight that holds the canopies down. Wind. Gusts. I’m in a race. It got exciting at 6pm.
I won’t say I lost.
I won’t say the canopy flew … but it did hop. At the time, I had the signs down, but the mesh walls were still up, so there was a bit of a sail making the booth catch the wind. Luckily, I had some nice neighbors that leapt in to help, and with them holding things together for me, I quickly – well, as quickly as possible – dropped the mesh walls & collapsed the canopies. No more incidents.
I ended with 3 helpers, 2 broken fingernails (how did that happen?), booth hardware in 3 pockets, and a trailer finally loaded at 6:55pm. Finally.
The weekend was a success. In 3 years, this was the best one yet. That’s a great way to start off 2020.
Requests were for a TV tray, a custom counter top, shoe horns, smaller Lazy Susans (2 of those), Pegs & Jokers (on my list, honest!), a stamp dispenser, an English pub game called Shut the Box (?), and a wine rack.
The Food
Best Meal: Saturday night pizza from Rosati’s. Recommended.
Worst Meal: Saturday breakfast was 2 hardboiled eggs. I don’t love eating immediately after I wake up … and once the set up started, that’s all I did.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 612
Booth cost: $350
Food cost: $95
Travel cost: $505
Total sales: $2,590
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 0
Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: 0
Saturday alarm: 5:00a
Sunday alarm: 7:00a
# transactions: 34
# soap & lotion vendors: none that I saw in the half of the event that I walked
# woodworking vendors: none that I saw (!) in the half of the event that I walked
Returning next year? Yes. I left my first deposit for 2021.
Boards sold: 48
Cutting Boards: 3
Garlic Dipping Boards: 4
Trivets: 7
Serving Pieces: 3
Signs: 8
Cracker Things: 7
Charcuterie Board: 1
Lazy Susans: 4
Cheese Slicers: 5
Cribbage Board: 1
Pizza Server: 1
Bread Saws: 2
Sous Chef Boards: 2
Sous Chef 20 – 518. Jatoba, Canarywood & Purpleheart. 10″ x 12″ work surface.
Sous Chef 20 – 520. Chaos board. 10″ x 12″ work surface.
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.
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A note about my absence. After a few months of getting more and more behind … I am ALMOST caught up. After this post … one more to go.
Thank you for your patience!
** ** **
Ridgecrest, CA. Santa’s Art Shop. Year 6.
For each of the last 5 years, this event was our biggest event of the year.
For each of the last 5 years, we set a sales record at this event.
Every year: Best. Event. Ever.
Every year.
Let that sink in for a moment.
It was time for year 6, 12/7 & 8/2019.
No pressure.
New Ideas
Nope, this was not new territory. After 5 years, we knew what we were doing. I did have several new products: Cheese Slicers. Cracker Things. Garlic Dipping Boards. But, we had legacy clients and they knew where to find us at Santa’s Art Shop.
She told the promoter that she wanted to be next to Mrs M’s Handmade. The promoter – who was new this year – told Nicole that we weren’t signed up.
It was Black Friday, November 29. The promoter told our friend that we weren’t signed up FOR OUR BIGGEST EVENT OF EVERY YEAR.
EVERY. YEAR.
OK, go.
Freaking out.
Me.
What happened? I have no idea. How did the promoter not have our application? No idea.
No.
Idea.
Managing Mrs M’s Handmade – and Mr M’s Woodshop – is a big job. To keep track of the details, I keep a spreadsheet of every event on our radar.
Every event.
I have promoter contact information. Websites. Costs. Descriptions. Comments. Dates. And, I keep track of whether or not we’ve approved the event for this year’s calendar (Mrs M and I), if the application is in, and if we’ve received approval.
The spreadsheet said that the application was in.
Honest.
Unfortunately, the promoter didn’t have the application, and the NEW PROMOTER THIS YEAR did not reach out to us to ask why we were missing after 5 years of faithful vending.
What did happen, though, was that my friend Nicole’s application said she wanted to be next to our booth (bless her), so the promoter called Nicole … and told her we were not on the list.
Nicole did not accept that. Oh YES we were coming. YES we were a part of the event. And, YES, she wanted to be next to our booth.
Bless her.
And, in the end, it worked out just fine. I called the promoter at Nicole’s direction, the promoter accepted that we could be a part of the event if I would just submit (re-submit?) the application, and get the check in the mail.
Today.
I did. That day.
Now, in 20/20 hindsight … I don’t know what happened. Normally, I keep a copy of EVERY APPLICATION on file so I know what I’ve provided to each promoter. Every application. However, I know that when this application was due, my life was out of control and I remember not keeping a copy of a couple of applications. This one? No clue.
But, the spreadsheet said the application was in.
Unfortunately, the promoter gets a vote, too, and she said she never got it. I’m sure it’s my fault. Must be, right? But every event is different, and we do 25+ events every year. Some will talk to you, some don’t, some will NOT talk to you … and I’ve gotten into the habit of submitting my application and forgetting about it.
My mistake.
Thankfully, our 3 booths were still available (!), and we slid right back into that opening. After Thanksgiving. For an event on the first weekend in December.
Thank you, Nicole. Couldn’t have done it without you, obviously.
And, yes, paid for dinner at Mon Reve. It was wonderful, too.
This event is now about legacy, and we have many fans in Ridgecrest after 5 years. Thank goodness.
One customer did observe the sign above my head as I sat in the booth (“Meet The Maker”) and asked if I was the maker. Uh, yes. They wanted to make sure, as I might have been sitting in the wrong chair.
Uh, OK. Me = Maker. Be calm.
We were way, way down on Saturday. Almost 40% down. Was it the new promoter? No, I think not … perhaps it was the major earthquake that Ridgecrest had in 2019. People had to fix their homes, perhaps? In any event, we were down on Saturday. Way down.
This event finally – finally! – fixed it’s #1 problem. There was WiFi, which meant that PayPal transactions could be done in the metal building without me having to go outside to find a cell signal. It would have been great to get a heads up about this, but oh well. We had WiFi, and that made transactions SO much easier.
I have fans in Ridgecrest that buy something from me every year. That is so sweet, and so unexpected. Every time.
I have to work very hard to earn those accolades. Every time.
But, alas, we were down on Saturday. We were down on Sunday.
The streak is broken. This was not the best event of the year. This was not our best event ever. It was good, certainly, but not even in the Top 5 all time.
The Food
Best Meal: Mon Reve, a ridiculously good French restaurant on the edge of the Mojave desert.
Honorable Mention: Olvera’s, a traditional Mexican restaurant that is a good value for good food.
Honorable Mention 2: Kristi’s, a local “diner” that serves comfort food, every day. We had lunch on Friday and dinner on Sunday here; definitely good decisions.
Worst Meal: Fair food for our lunches was easy; we didn’t pack food for this trip. But to call the vendors at these events fair … well, that’s what they are. IMHO.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 270
Booth cost: $758
Food cost: $315
Travel cost: $368
Total sales: $4,439
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 3
Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: several
# soap & lotion vendors: Several, as always
# woodworking vendors: Several, as always
Returning next year? Maybe. Probably. But, perhaps we should give it a rest….
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.
** ** **
A note about my absence. After a few months of getting more and more behind … I still haven’t caught up.
I will, just not today. In the interim, here’s the latest installment of The Board Chronicles for all of you that have been missing my missives.
Enjoy, and thank you for your patience!
** ** **
OK, OK. I know. I’m behind … but this is ridiculous. The good news is that I’m almost caught up – really! I believe I have 3 more reviews after this one. And this one, well, keep reading.
This is our 5th year at Santa’s Art Shop. For each of the previous 4 years, this was our biggest event of the year. For each of the previous 4 years, this was our biggest event ever.
We like Santa’s Art Shop, in not so far away Ridgecrest, CA. It’s a good 2 hour drive, and Ridgecrest is on the edge of the Mojave. It’s just down the road from Inyokern, that proudly announces on a sign next to the highway, “100 miles from anywhere”.
So, Ridgecrest is not a garden spot. It’s not close to the bright city lights.
It’s my kind of town.
New Ideas
Not so much. We are again doing a triple booth, but this time it’s just Mrs M & I to get it up and running. The trailer was filled to capacity. And, probably, beyond.
Observations
Friday set-up begins at 1p, and we were there with bells on. We. Were. Excited.
Shoppers come to this event. They usually inspect everything in both buildings (lots to see!), and then come back and buy what they want. It’s unusual to get many special orders: they know what they want, plus, there’s not much time before the holidays.
Oh. And I’m tired.
Suggested sign: “I Love You More Than Bacon.”
This event is a bit tricky to know when people are coming. Sundays can be bigger than Saturdays. Afternoons can be bigger than mornings. Some Saturdays, in the first couple of hours, sales actually fall because there are too many people and the aisles are just jammed.
Good problem, yes?
We had a good Saturday, but lower than last year.
I walked by the entrance just in time to hear a very excited little girl walk in and say, “It’s BEE YOU TI FUL.”
I love Ridgecrest.
Each year, we set a new record for sales at this event. And, each year, we agree we can’t do it again. We can’t keep going up, right?
Competition is steep at this event. I have 2 direct competitors, and both have a complete product line (though one has a lot of turned items, and the other has many crafty-style items … they both have many similar items to what I have, too. I need proprietary designs and unique pieces to compete, I believe.
In addition to those 2 woodworkers, there are 3 others that have a few items that are competitive, along with other items I don’t make that they focus on (jewelry boxes, furniture, etc).
So, a very robust environment for woodworkers. Can I stay strong?
Last year, the event organizer asked if she could buy a large group of items for a charity auction benefiting a local community autism organization. It was my pleasure to match her purchase, dollar for dollar. This year … she wants to do it again.
It’s my pleasure to match her, dollar for dollar.
Sunday afternoon started to heat up … and then it got hotter. I actually did 20% of our total sales in the last hour. That’s a big number … and we just made it.
We just made it. Fifth year in a row.
Best. Event. Ever.
Requests included items with a California Quail engraved, a moose and a dresser organizer.
The Food
Best Meal: We couldn’t get into our favorite French restaurant, Mon Reve. We settled for our favorite Mexican restaurant, Olvera’s.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 268
Booth cost: $758
Food cost: $247
Travel cost: $224
Total sales: $6,211
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 3
Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: several
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.
** ** **
A note about my absence. After a few months of getting more and more behind … I still haven’t caught up.
I will, just not today. In the interim, here’s the latest installment of The Board Chronicles for all of you that have been missing my missives.
Enjoy, and thank you for your patience!
** ** **
Yes, we were there.
We were at the 2019 Gilroy Garlic Festival, and had a perfectly wonderful time until the crazy guy showed up and started shooting at 5:41pm on Sunday, July 28. I’ve already told that story in a special edition of The Board Chronicles: Terror. I’ve also told the story of how we picked up the pieces, Recovery.
This is not that story. This is the story of the event up until the crazy guy ruined a great weekend.
New Ideas
I created a brand new product for this event, Garlic Dipping Boards. Mrs M is taking credit for the idea, and I am wisely giving her all of the credit. Our good friend Nicole makes the Great Garlic Graters, and I make the boards. The customer get to choose the GGG that they like, and then pair it with the GDB. I hope this works! I made 24x new boards for this weekend!
Display of the GDBs required food, I thought. We had olive oil, garlic and bread to show how you could use a Dipping Board.
Observations
Signing up for the event proved to be a bit of a challenge: they sent me a commercial application. Fees for a double booth were something like $3,000.
Uh, no.
I carefully explained that I made everything I sold, and eventually – eventually – I was given a revised contract at the handmade vendor rate. My double booth cost “only” $1,450. Plus, we were paying for 5 hotel nights, meals … I was not facing a small number when you add it all up.
This event is a big idea. Mrs M has had it on her bucket list for a long time: if you’ve ever eaten at her table, you know she likes garlic. No, she Loves. Garlic. She didn’t want to be a vendor at the world-famous Gilroy Garlic Festival, she just wanted to be there to enjoy this ultimate Foodie event.
Check.
So, I set up the Trimline and my typical double booth, and Mrs M got to be my assistant (“sit there, look pretty, and wrap up the purchases if you can.”) Her other duties were to enjoy the festival and get lunch.
Oh, and, come to find out, they serve alcohol at the Festival. They have commemorative copper mugs in which they serve a very nice Moscow Mule.
Very nice.
We each had one each day.
We needed a set of the mugs … how else would we get them?
So, you see, we were intent on enjoying the Gilroy Garlic Festival, and we did a good job.
People came to the Festival from all over (60,000 is the estimated attendance). Local people volunteer, and are “paid” with contributions to local charities in their name. So, high school cheerleading squads volunteered and bought uniforms, food bank patrons volunteered to fund operations, and so on. This is a very big, very well-rooted community event.
Did I mention there was alcohol? People have a good time at the Festival. One of my early customers was wearing a hat with a solar powered fan in the crown. Lovely! And, come to find out, she did field archaeology, so the hat was a professional tool as well.
The biggest problem we found on Friday was that our cellphones didn’t work. At all. Verizon didn’t work in the park??? Come to find out, no. Verizon had zero signal in the park. We had this VERY big event and we couldn’t do any transactions with PayPal?
Nothing to do about it … but go buy another phone from Sprint that evening after the event closed. We had just enough time, and went back to the motel to download the software and get the phone ready for a big Saturday. It worked perfectly. So … don’t use Verizon at this event. Check.
I should have expected it. I put a display of food on the table … so people helped themselves. My goodness, what were they thinking? The bread was a crouton after a day in the sun, and people were still eating the bread! I couldn’t believe it.
But I should have expected it.
Quote from a wise male customer: “I don’t need Google. My wife knows everything.”
A young couple took a while to make their decision … but they eventually decided that a small end grain board just wasn’t big enough, so they bought the biggest board in the booth. Love that.
Sunday, I was examining the booth, and I had a very good idea of my inventory at that point. I realized that I had a heart-shaped board stolen that morning. I believe that $60 board is the first piece that’s ever been stolen from my display, after 6 years of vending. It had to happen.
After the dust settled, this was a very good event (until 5:41pm on Sunday). Total sales were strong. In fact, this was the #3 event of the year in 2019. Very good.
On the other hand, with costs skyrocketing due to the terror event, the event was not nearly as profitable as I had hoped. Is it fair to attibute the crime-caused costs directly to the event? There’s no good answer here.
So, will I be back? I hope to … but I’m going to wait until I see the communication from the event producer. I assume attendance will be down in 2020 because of the terror event in 2019. Will my costs go down in recognition of the (assumed) lower attendance?
I’ll wait & see.
The Food
Best Meal: We had a nice Italian meal on Saturday evening at Maurizio’s in nearby Morgan Hill. This postage stamp of a restaurant did not have enough seating, and no waiting area for those, like us, waiting for those all-too-rare seats. But, the food was good.
The Facts
Total miles driven: This should have been about 625 miles, but ended up being a lot more, as you know, due to the terror incident
Booth cost: $1,450
Food cost: irrelevant because of the extra costs incurred
Travel cost: see above. 5 hotel nights turned into 7 hotel nights. 1 round trip turned into 3 round trips.
Total sales: $4,792
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: 2
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.
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A note about my absence. After a few months of getting more and more behind … I still haven’t caught up.
I will, just not today. In the interim, here’s the latest installment of The Board Chronicles for all of you that have been missing my missives.
Enjoy, and thank you for your patience!
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For 2 years running, I’ve been approached at the Claremont Village Venture event in October to do this event in March. Last year didn’t work, but this year the event did fit on the calendar, so ….
It’s always seemed like foodie events should be a natural for me. I haven’t found success at drinking events (the Winter Wine Walk in Ventura comes to mind), and the results from the Chili Cook-off and Bar B Q events have been spotty, to say the least.
But I like pie. I’m going to Claremont.
New Ideas
Not new … more of a back to basics idea. I’m doing a 10×10 booth with no games. Only cutting boards, serving pieces and a few signs.
Observations
The vendor info packet announced that a fire extinguisher was required in the booth. A check will be done, it promised.
’twasn’t.
Very nice little event, it seems. Maybe 40 vendors. I’m in booth 201, right next to the alleyway exit from the Wells Fargo parking lot, I’m told. Sounds like a corner space.
It was, but only until they set up the canopy, tables & sound system for the bands that played next to me all day. They were acoustic with some amplification, but I did have to talk over the, uh, music.
One performer was a ukelele band. They were the loudest. Kind of fun, actually, once you got past the pronounced amateur status of the performers.
The event was on a pretty tight side street … Once booths were up on both sides, there was only room for about 4 people to walk down the aisle side by side. Or, that would be a couple going in each direction. That’s it. Baby strollers, Roll-ators, motorized chairs … it got interesting when the crowd thickened. Which it did: good crowd flow all day long.
I was immediately in front of my booth, talking to a customer about the Carnivore Boards, when a motorized chair ran into the cardboard trash can and pushed it into me, knocking me off balance. No big thing, really, but illustrative of the crowded conditions in the aisle.
I stayed in my booth.
Where I belong.
Lots of traffic. Sales didn’t break any records (I hate doing so few transactions in a 6 hour event!), but certainly proved to be worth my while.
The Food
Best Meal: Only left-overs for dinner. I’ll take Velda’s Beef Bourguignon anytime.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 130
Booth cost: $125
Food cost: $13
Travel cost: $68
Total sales: $1,096
Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $890
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 0
Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: 1
