(1) I have spent the last month and a half, working my bum off to get ready for a couple of craft shows. I have spent late nights, frustrating hours, nearly sanded my finger off with the belt sander (thank goodness for acrylic nails, and totally ruined a brand new manicure, all for a craft show in Jackson Hole that I had heard was a totally awesome, show. With a booth fee of $180, I expected great things, and felt like I needed to have a lot of product to offer. So I made wooden word blocks, tiles with vinyl sayings, frames with vinyl sayings, and still had some of my barnwood snowmen to sell, which I was promised would be sold out by noon. I also took lots of hair flowers for Brooke, and some handmade puzzles and belt buckles for our friend, Lee. I did 2 previous shows this year, in Afton, and Paris, Idaho, and had sold out almost all my stuff, so I had a week to make a crud load more to get ready for Jackson.
Jason and I spent the night in Jackson, so we wouldn't have to get up at 5:00 AM to make it to our scheduled 7:00 AM set up time. We set up in the freezing cold dark at the Snow King Ice rink. Yes, they cover the ice and have a craft show on top of the ice, which kept me kind of cold all day.
People started coming, and the first hour was fairly busy, but nothing like I'd expected. Several people saying they loved my stuff and then passing by, which is fairly common. By noon, I still hadn't sold a single snowman. Also, by noon, the crowd had pretty much dissapated to a trickle. This wasn't looking good. 5 and a half more hours. There was a lady across from us that was selling beautiful Christmas wreaths with lots of flowers and ornaments on them. She finally came over and started talking to us. She had a thick accent and told us how sick she was of people coming over to her and telling her how beautiful her wreaths were, and then leaving. "You like it? You buy it!" was what she said. She ended up being from Brazil, so we talked to her for a while.
Basically, as we walked around and talked to crafters, we found out that no one was doing well. We noticed that there were two types of people coming into the show. Cowboys. and Hippies. I have never seen so many people with strange ski hats and dread locks in my life. It was weird. People in Jackson don't own strollers, they own baby backpacks, and they must wear a ski hat at all times. I'm pretty sure all the people selling $60 ugly hats did great at that show. We also noticed a lot of really nasty looking furniture made out of horseshoes going out the door. The concensus was if it was cute, it didn't sell.
Finally with about 3 hours left of the show, our cute Brazilian friend, handed us a beautiful wreath, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and wouldn't take anything in trade for it. How sweet!
By the end of the day, I hadn't sold one snowman, or any of Brooke's or Lee's stuff. My Brazilian friend and I started packing up a half hour early which was against the rules. Our philosophy was if we get caught, we risk the threat of not being invited back next year. OH NO!
I did trade out some stuff for a cute hat for Autym, some headbands, and an awesome beaded watch for me. I also made a friend from Bear Lake who says the Raspberry Days craft show is a good money maker every year, and I think I will try that one in August. So I guess the day wasn't a total wash, but I won't be doing that show again!
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