"As Per Your Contract", or..."The Little Dictator"

Ok, I promised in the beginning there would be the occasional rant here, and it's been a while but this one really merits writing about. Hopefully, it will make those who do craft shows pay more attention and be somewhat selective in their choice of venue.
I've been doing all kinds of shows for years: craft shows, art shows, flea markets, antiques fairs, etc etc, and like anything else, there are good ones and crappy ones. The things that distinguish one kind from another is the way your entry fee is spent (or not).

I did everything from tiny little school & church ones to giant street fairs and since the fees keep going up at all of these things, have whittled it down to only the ones that are worth it.

Anyway, I did one this past weekend that was new to me, but I knew the place had been around for a long time, so figured give it a shot. It was at St.Philip's school in Clifton, NJ, and I shared the spot with my friend Claire. It was $40, which to me is pretty high for a school show, but often this indicates an established show with a good return for the $$.

Well, usually yes, but not this time.

1. First off, we requested a wall with electricity since it's Christmastime and we needed lights. The contract came and confirmed we had a wall with electricity.

-We got there and the woman running the thing told us to go to 'table 27' which was smack in the middle of the room, no wall anywhere, no electricity. Claire told her what was on the confirmation, and she said "Well, if you don't want that space, you can go in the hall."

Oh, REALLY? You have our money and now you're playing the 'And what are you going to do about it' game? Oh my.

Now, anyone who's ever done any of these shows knows that 'the hall' is basically Purgatory; it's where customers 'might' go if they have any money left after shopping the main room, and if even then, they'd have to know that there's a hall to begin with. You end up there if you send in your money at the last minute, which we didn't.

2. The contract also said that vendors "will be asked to remove commercially made merchandise".

-There were 5 or 6 other jewelry makers besides me, and 3 of them had at least half commerically-made stuff (yes I can tell), and one vendor's merchandise was 100% out of Fire Mountain's wholesale jewelry/gift catalogue. I guess since he bought 2 spaces, that was ok with them. Had I known, I would have brought half of my vintage shop and passed it off as 'made by someone a long time ago'.
There was also a vendor with a huge display of Christmas ornaments, most of which were made by 'someone' (probably them), but other things were machine made and right out of a gift catalogue. Nothing was done about any of this.

This is one thing that makers of any kind of craft/art have been griping about for years. It devalues the honest vendors' merchandise because people coming to a craft show want handmade, and they often can't tell what's what, if some vendors are selling things made by a 6 year old slave worker in some obscure village somewhere, and passing it off as their own work. Plus, you're supporting the very thing that today's handmade vendors are supposed to be uniting against: mass-produced, low-quality crap that profits only Big Business and exploits the poor and their children.
The customers trust us to be legit, and venues that allow mass-produced crap are making us all look like liars.

They all say 'no commercial merchandise', but they all don't enforce it, including this place. I am so sick of being told my things have to be handmade (which they always are), and then find that I'm set up next to Beanie Babies, Made-in-Somewhere cheap clothing, or fibre optic rose bouquets. It is fraud on the part of the venue, and is legitimate grounds for a refund, but try to get one without a lawyer and see what happens. Maybe we should start paying for our spaces with Monopoly money, and see how they react. ('Hey, it looks like real money, kind of, so what's the big deal?')

3-Contract Says: "vendor must not sell food of any kind".Right across from us was a table with nothing but chocolate-covered popcorn, Pringles, fruit, etc--all food.

And my favorite (it's a double, folks):

(a)Vendor "must stay for the entire show 9am-4pm or you will not be sent a contract for future craft fairs."

AND: (b)"St.Philip's PROMISES EXTENSIVE PUBLICITY"

The place was a desert, complete with tumbleweeds, and you know why? Not one single ad, flier, sign, nothing anywhere except one right in front of the building, in which case you'd have to be going down that specific street to even know the thing was happening. Even if you saw that one sign and had the time and money to stop in, you'd not know where to park or enter. There was a tiny paper sign on two doors telling you not to enter through them, and then finally you found the main door if you poked around a bit. It was like paying hide-and-seek, with a big fat 'HaHa we got your money!' on top.
Promotion is what we are paying for, and didn't get it.
We (vendors) provide the merchandise, the venue provides a space and promotion. There is way more than enough places that offer free 'community service' ad space, both online and in the 'real world' that there is NO excuse for taking vendors' money and then not doing anything for them.

So we paid $40 for this waste of time, and took in $35 between the two of us. And no, it's not that our merchandise is crap; it's not. We're both seasoned at making and selling lots of things, and price more than fairly. I can tell you personally, I've made 10 times my space fee at tons of other shows, so that's not it. No one 'made' money. The only people who were actually shopping were the other vendors and they only buy once they make some money themselves. People were talking all day about this fiasco, and how the 'Little Dictator' and Co. basically ripped us all off and laughed about it.

So now the Longest Day in History was winding down, and a lot of us started packing up at around 3:30. The show ended at 4. As soon as the woman who told us to go into the hall saw this (The L.D.), she bellowed into the microphone with the voice and attitude of a mother who's got no control over her children, "vendors are to stay until the end of the show, as per your contracts, and if you leave before then, you'll not get a contract next year."

WHAT?!?!??
You violate YOUR OWN contract, lied, cost all of us money and time (which=money), and now are pulling rank with the same contract you basically blew your nose on?

Well, that was it. Artsy/craftsy folks are by nature, a pretty mellow bunch, but this was too much. The noise level rose in the room for the first time all day, and we were glad we weren't the only ones who thought this was a great big scam.

First off, who would WANT a contract for next year??? Besides, no one was going to leave before 4; it takes time to pack a thousand things up (since nothing sold) and we'd be able to actually LEAVE at 4, and not have to hang around and watch her count the money for the school's new whatever they were raising funds for. It would have been easier to just go to our homes and ask for money for whatever it was they needed, instead of making people schlep their stuff from wherever they are, to sit there and vegetate.
Also, it had been snowing nonstop since about noon, so that was another reason to get out of there ASAP, especially since no one was going to come to a show that no one knew about to begin with.
I make good products, I am honest and a professional. I play by the Rules. I expect every venue to play by them as well, especially when it's THEIR rules.

So in closing, I say this once again:

-If you're doing any kind of show, large or small, ask questions, as many as you need to feel comfortable before writing that check out.

-Ask around if anyone you know has shopped at or sold at a show you're thinking of doing.

-Remember, more expensive is not always an indicator of quality. (This goes for anything)

-Check out Craftlister's database, called 'Eventlister', which gives you information on all kinds of shows and what they cost, venue info, attendance, etc. They also ask vendors to leave reviews of shows they've done, so people new to the show can get an idea of what to expect first-hand from a vendor's perspective. Am I going over there to review this one? Youbetcha.
Here's a link to Craftlister; you can sign up for their weekly mailer and get show info right in your inbox:
CRAFTLISTER


That's all for now. Have a wonderful and prosperous holiday season!