Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Craft Shows and Such

So I have been busy navigating the world of the Craft Show for the past month or so. It has been interesting and I have been learning the ropes with the help of some veteran crafters that I have been meeting.

My debut event was called "Pig on the Pond" and it is a local BBQ competition here in Clermont. So the "pig" part of the title is the BBQ and the "pond" is actually a lake (the next lake up the chain of lakes from "our" lake).
The weather on Friday night was horrible and there were 16mph winds coming right off the lake making the wind chill about 40 degrees. No fun at all since the event was from 5pm-10pm. Plus part of the event is a huge carnival with rides and games so it was teeny-bopper High School night. Needless to say the crowd was not interested in baby wipes cases, burp cloths, and taggy blankets. We did get quite an entertaining show of all that Clermont teenagers have to offer. The best (or worst) was the girls who were running around in short shorts and tank-tops as I am shivering in my wool boots, jeans, and huge fuzzy coat. It was ridiculous. I guess looking "cute" trumps physical discomfort for 16 year olds. Not this lady! It is comfort all the way! But I still looked cute in my boots, jeans, and coat anyway so whatever!

Saturday was much better! Sunshine, no wind, lots of young families - a much more condusive  atmosphere for a successful day for a baby gift booth! The day went well and I pulled out my best sales woman personality! My Sister-in-Law and her family even came and helped for several hours. It was a great day to hang out, meet some people, drum up some interest in Coco Lemon and sell some cute baby gifts!

The next weekend we went to a small event at one of the local community colleges. It was a Wing Fest and Craft Show and it was only a few hours in the morning. It was mildly successful and again we met some nice people! Plus it was a few town over and the drive was very pretty so I can't complain about that!

Finally this past weekend I did a three day event at the local winery here in Clermont. This was more of an established crowd of crafters and my display needed to be bumped up a bit so I added some curtains and tried to make my tent look a little fancier than the general pop up that it is. Most people had the tall white tents with the fully enclosed sides. I will work up to that but for my third event ever I think I did pretty good! Again I met some awesome people and everyone is very encouraging. The lady whose tent was right next door to mine was also next door to me at Pig on the Pond, strangely enough. She was super nice and was my biggest cheerleader. She kept telling anyone with babies that they needed to check out my booth and would brag about how nice my stuff was. I really appreciated all of the encouragement! It was a nice weekend and again I was able to generate a good deal of interest in the company.

So that is what I have been doing. The weekends have been full with events and the weeks are spent replenishing inventory and getting ready for the next show! I also have been updating Etsy with new items so be sure to check it out! Now I am brainstorming on some things that I could add to the line that could appeal to everyone, not just new mothers. I am thinking iPad covers, camera straps, and several other options.

Any ideas? I would like to use most of the same fabric so that I can utilize odd cuts after I get the wipes case and burp cloth pieces cut out.