Well, it was an absolutly gorgous So. Calif. day with clear skies and temps in the upper 60's to low 70's. The location was "Tom's Farms" which started out 35 years ago as a produce market and then grew over the years where they have multiple stores and eating places as well as live music and such making it a great weekend place to stop by and hang out right off the I-15 freeway. They do shows every weekend and I have done a number of shows there over the past few years, but this one was the worst. We had a fair amount of foot traffic, but nowhere near normal especially for Christmas time. The shopping center just down the road was having a big "Snow Day" where they brought in and manufactured snow so parents could bring their kids in to play in the snow. They advertised it greatly so they were packed which dropped the numbers greatly to Tom's Farms. But those that came through just weren't buying. I sold $185 worth of stuff but with a $50 buy in we only cleared $135 for the whole day (8am to 4pm) which was way less than we had hoped for.The really sad thing is that we did better than most of the other regular vendors.

Oh well, everything that I have left will be used as gifts as my wife has a number to give out to co-workers and we have a big Christmas party at out house this friday with about 25-30 people being there. What doesn't get given away this Christmas will go back into my wife's "Gift giving box" for use during the year.

On Edit:

Here are photos of my show set up. We had a prime location right on an inside corner with great visibility. Behind us is where they sell sheds and custom patios and such as well as the overflow parking area. It really is a nice place for the craft show as it used to be on the other side of the facility and we had to set up on gravel which was a pain.

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

http://www.awcreationsandwoodcrafts.com

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee

I sure hate you show was not so good. They are a strange thing. I have had shows when the weather was perfect and a good crowd with lots of foot traffic and only sell on pen. I have had nights when it was cold or even rainy and sell almost everything I have. You never know what will trigger the spending process for them. I have done a few that I sit there most of the day and nothing and then all of a sudden I have more people there wanting to buy that I can wait on. Hard to figure out.

I would have thought you would have sold a bunch of the rocking chairs and cutting boards. I guess you just never know what will be hot. There is a guy here that is making shadow boxes of all sizes and he sells a lot of them. That is all he takes to the shows and he is doing very good with those.

Maybe it will pick up next year.

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Craft Shows are fickle things, especially in my neck of the woods. This was the least productive show that I have done and it was frustrating and a bit discouraging. I would like to take things to the next level and produce more items so that I could do more shows in 2012 and be profitable while doing it as opposed to just making enough to pay from my materials and keep my wife's gift box full. So I am chewing on a few things right now and will see where it goes.

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

http://www.awcreationsandwoodcrafts.com

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee

Don't feel bad Allen, that's about the same as I did Sat., at our towns Christmas parade / festival. The space was $40 and I cleared about $95. I had a lot of carnival/flea market type vendors to compete with too. All my items were Christmas related stuff too, so folks just weren't buying. On the plus side the ornaments won't spoil  so I'll have plenty for next year. We had great crowds too.

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Greg
http://www.thesawdustfactory.net/

Please keep us in the loop Allen, let us know what you chawed on and came up with. I am considering craft shows next year too, Hemet has a nice one finally. Hang in there brother.

Allen Worsham said:

Craft Shows are fickle things, especially in my neck of the woods. This was the least productive show that I have done and it was frustrating and a bit discouraging. I would like to take things to the next level and produce more items so that I could do more shows in 2012 and be profitable while doing it as opposed to just making enough to pay from my materials and keep my wife's gift box full. So I am chewing on a few things right now and will see where it goes.

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

http://www.awcreationsandwoodcrafts.com

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

I'm dreading the day my showings slow down also Allen. this past weekend was my slowes at just over $400. plus orders for a few more items.

like you are thinking; expand your product line and you should see sales increase.

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Round Barn WoodCrafts, Plymouth WI
roundbarnwoodcrafts@hotmail.com

Hi John,

I'm in S.E. WI and will be starting to do the craft shows next year. 

I'm the nut building the portable Delta-Shop. So I'll be taking my workshop on the road with me.

It will be equipped with my OWWM Delta machines. So the folks will get to see some Old-Time machines in action.

I'm hoping to have some fun, and make a little supplemental income at the same time. I'll have to wait and see how it works out.

Maybe I'll see you at a show next year!

Regards,

Larry
John Hechel said:

I'm dreading the day my showings slow down also Allen. this past weekend was my slowes at just over $400. plus orders for a few more items.

like you are thinking; expand your product line and you should see sales increase.

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Round Barn WoodCrafts, Plymouth WI
roundbarnwoodcrafts@hotmail.com