Summer is almost here, and that means one thing: it’s outdoor craft fair season! Since these events have the potential to draw in crazy amounts of foot traffic, they’re always an amazing opportunity to make extra sales and spread brand awareness. Plus, you get to enjoy beautiful weather while working. What’s not to love?
Before you set out this season, take a little time to look over these outdoor craft fair tips. You may have mastered the art of indoor craft booth set up during the winter months, but preparing your booth so it can endure the elements is an entirely different animal. Read up on these outdoor craft fair tips to make sure you’re prepared.
1.Choose light-colored fabrics
You’re going to be outdoors all day long, and although you’ll have your tent for shelter, things can get toasty quickly under there. Make sure the tent above your craft booth is made of white fabric in order to keep things cool. Luckily, most fairs require the fabric on your tent to be white anyhow. While you’re at it, make sure YOU are dressed in light-colored clothing as well. White or pastels are always a good bet.
2. Pack a cooler of water bottles
Staying hydrated is BEYOND important. Keep a little cooler filled with two or three–or four!!–water bottles by your side. It may be a little clunky during transport and set-up, but you won’t regret having it once that stun starts to beat down. Plus, drinking plenty of water will help keep your overall energy and mood up.
3. Laminate your Signs
If your signs aren’t made of waterproof material, it would be a great idea to laminate them before going to an outdoor craft fair. This is a sure-fire way to make sure your name and brand are not lost in the event of a sun shower or sudden rainstorm. There’s nothing that looks more unprofessional than a small, soggy sign.
4. Weatherproof your tent
Before arriving at the outdoor venue, spray your tent with waterproof sealant. This is something that can be easily overlooked, and a little time consuming, but is definitely worth the energy. If it rains, you’ll be able to breathe easy knowing your shelter won’t begin to drip onto your craft booth and soak your products.
5. Bring a Chair
During downtime, or while customers are browsing, take a moment to take a load off! As long as you’re alert and engaged with the activity happening inside your craft fair booth, there’s no reason you can’t sit for a moment to restore your energy before people are ready to make their purchases.
Do you have any outdoor craft fair tips to share?
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I’ve been doing an open-air farmer’s market for over 10 years now and one of the weather things that vendors forget to prepare for is the wind. A sustained breeze or a gust of wind can blow everything off your tables and damage your product. Or worse yet, it can overturn your tent/canopy and injure you and/or customers. Be sure your tent/canopy is weighted at all 4 corners. If you have baskets on your table be sure your product is heavy enough to hold the basket in place. If not, add something heavy to the basket like glass beads (in a mesh bag) or a bag of rice to keep it from blowing off the table. An easel with a sign looks great, but even a slight breeze will blow a posterboard sign or a painting on canvas onto the ground and you’ll have to constantly pick it up. If you aren’t sure how to deal with the wind issue, talk with vendors who have products of similar size and weight to see how they handle it.
Menards, Home Depot and Lowes sell tent leg weights at $20 for a box of 4. They work quite well except for the worst winds. Or you can get pvc pipe, close one end, fill with sand and close the other end. The pvc parts are quite cheap and a 4-ft or 5-ft section of pipe can be quite heavy enough to weight your tent down. The end caps are glued on, and you drill holes through one end to hold cords to tie onto the tent corner poles.
I agree with Barbara about the wind, we have weights made from PVC pipe, filled with cement and topped off with a large hook, like you’d use to hang your bicycle from. I love them bc they do not become a tripping hazard like so many weights that hang around the bottom.
I also like to freeze my beverage the night before, then drink it as it melts, its stays cooler longer that way!
I have had a tent at a Farmer’s Market for several years and I agree that wind can be a real problem. I have displays that hold doll dresses that are made of PVC pipes and small wooden crates. I made tubes of material that fit into the crates and fill them with sand. I used the same fabric that I used to make mannequins so my tent looks coordinated. I also used the material to make a plastic bag holder. Don’t forget that EVERYTHING in your tent can go sailing!
I am going to be in my first art craft show. I am very nervous now that I am finding out everything I have to buy and do. One thing I am worried about is that there is no electricity. No generators allowed. I have heard of power banks but do not know which one is the best. I would have to have a space on the power bank for a lot of things – computer, plug-in items, possibly cell phone, and ?printer. I have a “Square” credit card scanner. I guess I just didn’t know all of the work people go through for a show! Any ideas?
My nephew bought me a solar phone charger at amazon.com. I go with it fully charged so that it’s ready to go. I also have a phone cover that is also a charger. I make sure that is charged as well so that I can turn it on when I’m low. It’s important to keep your phone up and running if you accept charge cards through your phone!
Bringing a change of clothes including shoes and socks is a good idea. If it rains hard, you’ll want to get out of your wet clothing!
That’s a great tip, Susan!
If you are using lightweight displays you may want to think about ways to anchor them down in case of wind. Some vendors use clamps.
I WILL BE IN A CRAFT FAIR IN SEPT I AM WORRYING ABOUT ANCHORING BECAUSE WE CANT PUT STAKES INTO GROUND–ALSO ANY SUGGESTIONS ON LIGHT WEIGHT FOLDING TABLES AND A FOLDABLE DOLLY— I WILL BE TRANSPORTING REGULAR SIZE TOTES–AND TABLES /CHAIRS—
THANK YOU