# Festival Goers ... advice please!



## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

So, Flannelberry Creek is likely to make an appearance at some shows in the future - no, I don't know where yet, but I'm going to ask my local summer fair committee if I can set up a booth if I host a spin in, do a few things like that to 'break myself in'.

I have purchased a 10x10 easy-up shade tent thingie that has one back wall included (no side walls). 

Here's where I need advice from the festival attenders here ...

What would make a yarn/fibre store booth really say "COME LOOK!"?

I know the basics - have room to walk inside, have things up at eye level and use all the vertical space, make sure the fibre is 'touchable', those kinds of things. I'm also planning an attention getting 'hang up' display (giant knitting needles with a WIP on them, and maybe a giant drop spindle as well) so that the booth catches your eye from a distance.

But closer up ... whatcha wanna see? What's gonna make you stop your rush through the various things to see and do and stop at my booth?


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## sharplady (May 20, 2011)

The biggest thing for me would be to price your items. If I have to ask the price of everything that interests me I am going to leave very quickly!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Vending!

Clear signage is mandatory. The prices, but also who you are and where you are located.

Business cards. Make them very easily available, dont hide them and dont hover over them.
Put them out there where people can take one, even if they dont want to talk to you. 
(or if you are busy and they cannot get to you).

Make the booth colorful and inviting, but not too/too cluttered.
I like your ideas for eyecatchers.

Get some more tarps/walls/and bungee cords. You want to be able to make more shade for yourself, if nothing else.
Consider what you will use for weights if it is windy.

When setting things up consider what it will be like for people buying things. Where will they stand? 
I did many years vending at the farmers markets and 'traffic flow' through the booth should be easy and obvious.
If it isnt then you lose potential customers.


You want to have a few 'inexpensive' items placed up front. 
Lots of times people will shell out a little money even if they cannot buy the bigger stuff.
Those sales can at least cover your booth fees whhen shows arent well-attended.

Personally I think "mini skeins" are a great low dollar item. 
20 yards of yarn or small bags of fiber for just a couple/few bucks..with a business card included, of course. 

Good luck!


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Stagger your items on different levels. If everything is on one level people will just scan them and walk on not really LOOKING. Different levels makes them stop and pay more attention. Hang up some of your brightest colored funky spun yarn towards the front of the tent to draw attention. Blues are big this year for me.

Talk to EVERYONE that walks past your booth. Just say Hi or good morning, etc. I don't know how many times I've been told that I was the first vendor to speak to a person. (I've done Farmer's Markets for going on 13 years)

If you see a customer looking at an item such as yarn, but not touching it, pick it up and hand it to them. If you can get them to actually hold an item it's a lot easier to get them to buy it.

Business Cards are a must. Clearly marked prices. 
Good luck!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

As a shopper here is what I have noticed when I go to fairs. 

Be ready when the doors open. Nothing more of a turn off than getting to a booth and them not being open or worse yet, not ready. This happened to me last year with Susan's Fiber Shop. She was so disorganized open but not open I had scoped her out for a number of reasons ahead of time. I was really disappointed and didn't go back. I found her shop to be like her on-line store difficult to find anything and nothing was marked. I know some of you love her and have had great experiences with her but I cannot say the same. That is one example. 

I agree with the others about leaving the shoppers alone. Be available to answer questions but don't hover and don't bug them. Don't ignore them either. Nothing worse them going into an area and the owner is so busy chatting with a friend or neighbor, or worse yet texting non-stop, they ignore you and don't even notice.

Take credit/debit cards and/or checks. I had great plans last year and got there extra early one day planning to get to another booth we had talked about on here. I found a bunch of beautiful stuff I wanted to buy, it would have been at least $100 worth of stuff. I get to the check out and they ONLY took cash :shocked: Their response was, "there's an ATM in town." You know I'm not going to go slog back to my car drive through traffic to find an ATM and then lose my great parking spot. I spent the money someplace else. I never carry cash with me especially at a place like that. I'd lose it or it would get stolen.

GAM had great advise for other idea for your booth. I know at the MFF there are some people who are inside and some who are outside. Last year there was a downpour with blowing. People who were outside that didn't have side walls had their stuff get wet or blown around. Also if you are setting up at one of these fairs, many or 2 or more days. you will need to be able to set up and leave your stuff over night so having all 4 walls would be necessary. Most just roll them up or down as they need for sun and wind.

If you have a little try me area for spindles with a variety of fibers it helps sales. One of my favorite booths was one that was so simple. She sat on a stool at the entrance, with a small machine for cards. She had 3 tables set up in a 'U'. on those tables she has wire racks with hooks. On the hooks were braids of various dyed fibers. Beautiful colors, soft fibers and they all screamed, "TOUCH ME". To the side of one of the tables she had a card table setup with spindles and small bumps of fibers for people to play with. I went back to her several times.

Be knitting or spinning or weaving. It's an ice breaker and it promotes your stuff.

Impulse stuff is good. GAM's idea of mini skeins is a good one. But I'd also have patterns that would work for those. Funny buttons, bumper stickers, wall hangings, fridge magnets are all great impluse things to have. People like to be able to buy little gifts to take back to family and friends. Stitch markers.....

Completely agree, everything marked clearly with, price, what it is (fiber content, WIP), hand made or manufactured, name of sheep if you know. Maybe have hand washing instructions printed on sheets of paper that you can hand out.

What fun! Good luck with it all.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

People from rural areas like you to talk to them. City people do not, it makes them feel pressured. A simple smile and hello is sufficient to cover everyone.

Have kits. Make a sample and right behind it/near it, have a zip lock bag with the yarn and pattern. The pattern should have a nice photo that is set to show through the bag. Some simple things, like a ribbed watch cap, a seaman's scarf, an easy pattern on a shawl, sock yarn with a couple of different sock patterns, one for adults, one for kids, easy baby things. Also, lace yarn and patterns. People who are new to knitting and crocheting often pick up patterns that are too hard, badly written, and use the wrong yarn. Even experienced knitters like to use kits. Figure out the cost of the yarn and the pattern and charge a little less. This encourages people to buy the pattern and yarn all from you. Have patterns near the till with an upright sign (you can get plastic holders at an office supply store) that clearly shows the prices of the patterns, and tells the buyer that they can save money by buying the kit. Of course, be open to creating a kit for a customer. If you have your own patterns that you've run off on your printer you can't loose money by pricing the pattern lower.

It doesn't hurt to have a few notions available, things that are harder to find, like Circular Solution. I don't know if she is still making Circular Solution/Crochet Solution, but I'm sure you can find something similar. Knitting totes- if you sew you can make a few yourself and hang them up at the outside edge of your booth. If you have a friend who makes jewelry, people love earrings and pins of their hobby (ball of yarn with knitting needles, crochet hooks, mitten). Special soap for wool. 

If you are going to sell handspun yarn, just having the wheel in a corner with a bobbin in progress will get people asking questions. Be prepared to tell people where they can buy a spinning wheel. Your drop spindles need to have idiot proof instructions with pictures.

How will you display finished work? The last show I did was indoors and I had the use of a dead corner. I set up an antique drying rack and draped my shawls over this. You can hang a dowel from the rafters and hang a rectangle shawl in a lovely but simple pattern, as well as a couple of scarfs. Anything displayed this way should be available as a kit.

Wear your money. Buy or make a sturdy fanny pack with a pocket for $1 - $10, one for $20 - $100, one for change, one for checks and a couple of pens- you can still use a till, but keep the big bills on your person. Scream professional: clearly written business cards; receipts with your bus name and email etc; new shopping bags, even if they are just t-shirt bags; enough change in the morning; skirt around table(s); bottled water for yourself; easy to eat lunch; neat appearance and appropriate clothes; say hello to your neighbor vendors. Leave young kids at home or have DH take them elsewhere unless it is a very casual and not very busy venue.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Whoa, you guys are a gold mine of information! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

I want to do a 'country theme' to the booth - a rake hanging from the rafters with skeins of yarn suspended from it by those round binder clips (so they are easy to remove if someone wants to buy them), yarn displayed in metal buckets or the bags you can sew from old blue jeans, that kind of thing. I really wanted to avoid the wire-cubes-of-yarn layout, too - I know it's easy and portable, but it's so boring. It occurred to me that I could make "rope ladders" out of big bulky art yarn for the ropes and with knitting needles for the rungs, then hang skeins and bags of fibre from the rungs. Very portable, and I have all the raw materials right here!  

I can get other walls for the tent - the events in my immediate future will be one day short things, so no immediate rush, but I will ponder my options!

I definitely want a corner for spinning - depending on the event, one out front where I can host an impromptu spin-in (that's what I plan for our summer fair - I want to be 'hosting a spin in' but selling a few things 'on the side', so that I can be an 'attraction/event' at the fair, not just a vendor); or a place in the corner for me to spin during the day (of course, what else will I do surrounded by all that gorgeous fibre!); and if it is a spinner's event (like a festival) then also a try-me centre with spindles and fibres.

The ideas for kits are awesome - I hadn't thought of that! 

Business cards and official stationery are on the way - they'll be in place by the time I have a booth going for sure. My partner has an artist friend who owes her some work-in-barter and the artist will be doing our new logo.  Once it's done, I'll have it put on a couple of banners and on business cards. I can get the coupon stickers for the cards done too - or I can have them printed up as bookmarks that get handed out for free at the event as well. This makes perfect sense since we are primarily an online shop - "come and shop at our online store if you're not ready to buy today - or if you wanna buy more next week!".  Most of our sales will be online so I hadn't thought about having proper receipts printed up for manual sales - but I should do that too. Great thinking, thank you! I'll look into nice shopping bags as well - paper bags with the little handles would fit our theme really well.

I'm also on the list for a device to allow me to take credit card payments with a smartphone - that should be available in another few months. I also will set up a laptop or mobile device to accept PayPal payments - I know a vendor at Olds Fibre Week will be doing that this year, which I think is really slick.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Frazzle those card readers for the smart phone are wonderful. There were several vendors using them at our local art fair this year. They seemed really happy with them. I have also been to lots of places/shops here that are now using iPads instead of registers, similar to the smart phone thing.


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## SvenskaFlicka (Nov 2, 2011)

I use an iPad instead of a register. I even have a receipt printer and everything! It's great. Such a money saver and so useful outside of just cash register functions.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I saw an iPad as cash register/POS system for the first time today - cool! 

I am definitely going to look into that.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Those attractive paper bags with the handles are expensive. You might want to wait on that. If you do go the paper bag route, either have them printed with a large logo, your name, etsy, etc., or get a stamp with the info that you can put on the bags. No point in giving out a beautiful bag that doesn't have advertising on it.

As for a theme, nobody really cares. They want what you sell and they want to know the price right up front. Make sure anything theme related is first and foremost going to get people in, make it easy to buy, and make it easy for you. For instance, having product in a basket or bucket can be a practical way to display yarn as long as you can use the basket to move the yarn back into the vehicle and not have to rewrap everything. At the end of the day you just want to leave.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Thanks for that info, Maura!

The farm theme is, for me, an inexpensive way to make things easy to display prettily - farm-related props are something I already have, and if I can use them to hang/display the yarn, then that's one less thing I have to purchase - a rake used to suspend skeins of yarn is easy to pack and costs me nothing, since it's already here.  And you are right: everything has to be portable and packable and multipurpose -if I pack the buckets at home, label with a price tag, then they are ready to go when I get there, just set out when I arrive and pack 'em up when it's time to go. 

I'm leaning towards 'suspending' a lot of things so that they are at eye level, easy to get to, and leave floor space in the booth for spinning - and because the suspension mechanisms I have in mind are highly portable and quick to set up and take down. If tables are provided, that's different, but at some of the outdoor events I will be at this summer, there won't be tables and I don't want to have to make space to haul one. I might see about a trestle type thing, if I can make room in the van. Dunno. 

I figure when the tent gets here I'll set it up in the living room or the basement or something and try a bunch of things and see what works. Better to experiment at home, eh?


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Don't forget some kind of weights for the tent! 2 weeks ago at our Farmer's market one of the tents got loose and went rolling down the middle of Main Street. It was pretty dangerous, luckily, it happened as we were tearing down.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

One of the best ways I've seen thing displayed (and it would be easy to improvise) is those wire walls and everything is hanging on a big hook. It would be easy to get a couple of cattle panels and make big 'S' hooks to hang skeins or braids from. You could even put balls/bumps of roving on a hook. It doesn't use up floor space, it's easy to pull down and put up, and it's flexible (move your display around easily). I'd say keep things at your eye level (I know you've said you are short) but I wouldn't put things any higher than 5'.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

If you will be spinning, make sure you select a space where it doesn't interfere with traffic flow in your booth. Folks will come stand and watch ... a good place to keep some inexpensive items.

Yeah, Susan McFarland always has a chaotic organization ... it's part of her 'charm'. She knows exactly where everything is and knows the price. She can be doing 3 things at once, plus carrying on a couple of conversations .... A.D.D. at it's finest!!


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## LisaInND (Aug 10, 2011)

This is a fabulous thread! I will be a vendor at my first show in August (the Fargo Fiber Arts Festival if anybody is nearby and wants to come visit!) and all of your input has my mind going a million miles an hour! I have GOT to get busy and plan, as well as dye, dye, dye! Good luck, Frazzlehead, and I'll keep an eye on this thread for more great ideas! Thanks everyone!


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## lsarah (Jun 4, 2011)

Wow - I love reading these ideas! I have been attending fiber fairs for 2 years now, and have been using hand me down displays that were originally used for a totally different craft. I'm looking for a different way to display my rovings. I braid them and roll them cinnamon roll style, and just stacking them on a table doesn't work well. Hubby is making me a hanging yarn display for my show in July. 

I totally agree with being sure to have the ability to take debit/credit cards. I do not have a cell phone, much less a smart phone or ipad, so I have been unable to take cards. I have lost several sales because of this. I'm trying to find the least expensive way to make it happen, and it looks like it will be a pay as you go of some kind. I just hate to cough up the monthly money for a phone when I only do 2 huge shows a year. 

~Lori


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

lsarah, you might check with your local 'event rentals' company. I know that the big one in the city near me rents POS terminals for events. I have no idea what the cost is or anything, but I do know that a lot of these things are easier to arrange in the US than they are in Canada, so you might look into renting a terminal for the shows you do.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

There are still people who use those old non-electronic credit card machines, the "kuchunk" type with the handle you slide over the card and carbon paper.


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## pyrobear (Nov 10, 2006)

also if you are going to take credit cards make sher you CHECK IDS the last thing you want is to get berned on bad credit cards !!


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## lsarah (Jun 4, 2011)

I have seen a little credit card swiper that stores the info encrypted, then you plug it into your computer at night and it downloads all of the info. The company is called ProPay, but you have to pay a yearly fee, I think. (don't quote me on that) It works sort of like PayPal for the seller. I just worry about taking a card, sending someone on their merry way with my merchandise, only to find out the card was no good. I suppose that is always a risk.

I have considered the old fashioned machine. But...how do I translate those credit slips into money in my account? Do I just take them to the bank? 

~Lori


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Nothing sells product like a cute kid. Teach a kid to use your product and have her help with the demonstrations. Even if she's not very good and needs help now and then, if she's good enough to not be frustrated all the time she'll get it across to the customers that it's not that hard to learn. Plus you have a little helper around if you need a fresh lemonade or a quick break.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

lsarah said:


> I have considered the old fashioned machine. But...how do I translate those credit slips into money in my account? Do I just take them to the bank?


I believe you have to sign up with a credit card processor, just like the electronic version only slower.


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