WOODEN ALLIGATOR only $8.95

NEW PRODUCTS. 15-inch Wooden Alligator. Check out our website DandL CREATIONS

We also have many other products to choose from. Puka shell necklaces, clam shell, lovely cowrie shell chokers, semi-precious necklaces and a lot more. Shoulder bags and wrap-around skirts.

Pleae visit our website

New Products for DandL CREATIONS

We have several new designs on our website. Stop by and take a look. Fast service, custom sizes, superior workmanship. DandL CREATIONS. The design on the left is a necklace made with hematite and howlite. Sizes from 13 inch to 24 inch are available. The necklace on the right is hematite with Mother of Pearl.





We offer a great selection of inexpensive shell and semi-precious necklace.

GROUPIES SWARM ROCK DEALER IN MONTEREY

I have written a number of ficticional pieces on my website Starving Vendors and I would like to share them with you.

One time I visited a rock and gem show in Monterey and ran into a dealer there who claimed that he had 'groupies' that followed him from show to show. That was hilarious. I wrote a little story about what this topic.

GROUPIES SWARM ROCK DEALER IN MONTEREY
Monterey, CA As Jason Ringsby drove his beat-up 1978 orange van through the gates of the fairgrounds, he was able to escape from the reaching arms of over 200 screaming girls who had followed him in their cars from his previous show in Sacramento. With many of them running up to the fence and yelling at him, Jason drove past the security guard and proceeded to the space that had been reserved for him to prepare for this weekend's gem and mineral show.He is truly a rock star and noted expert in his field.

Widely known for his awesome stone jewelry and minerals, Jason has a strong following of young ladies who tail him from one location to another buying from him wherever he goes. Occasionally, some of these ladies will strip down in front of his booth and toss their undergarments at him. "I've got 5 boxes of panties and bras," exclaimed Jason with a huge smile on his face. "I'm thinking about putting them on my counter and selling them."

"That's one of the hazards of being a vendor," Jason added. "These girls follow me all over the place. They tail me to my hotels and wait out on the sidewalk for hours just to see me come out. I must sign over 500 autographs every day. My hand is getting tired. I need to take some time off to rest." Jason has been selling his minerals and jewelry at shows like this for the past 28 years and he really can't recall how and why this has been happening to him. "Yah, I've got my groupies following me all over the place. Sometimes these people will camp out for days on end. They stay in motels, their cars. Wherever they can bed down for the night." As for his night life, Jason certainly has no problems and is obviously the envy of the other vendors. "Yah, at the end of the day I usually pick out one or two and they take me to dinner and ... well, you know what I mean."

Ukiah Country Pumpkin Fest

Oct 17-18, 2009. Ukiah, CA Ukiah Country Pumpkin Fest

The crowds came out on Saturday for the parade and there were quite a number of people by closing time at 5:00. Food lines were not very long throughout the day and doesn't appear that they spent a lot of money. Entertainment throughout the day may have kept some of the people there. I was entertained by the assortment of characters coming in out of the woods or wherever they hide during the week. Sales were somewhat okay for me on Saturday and much slower on Sunday. Crowds very small on Sunday and that lends to the low booth fee. Maybe 75 booths and 10-12 food booths. Not much money to go around and quite a number of vendors did poorly. I'll bet they roll up THESE STREETS by 5:00pm during the week. They did an excellent job with the event and placement of the vendors and the food area was good. Booth fees were very reasonable and I am sure that everybody agrees with that.

Please click here to read more about the event

Antioch Holiday Craft Fair

Just received a form letter from the Antioch Holiday Craft Fair (or Contra Costa County Fall Fair or whatever you disguise this pitiful event as). It said:

We have received your application for the 2009 Fall Faire and appreciate your interest in our Faire. We regret to inform you that at this time we will not be contracting your services. Unfortunately, we feel that our product() are not suitable in nature for this event.

I sent in my application for this event five weeks ago and they have taken this long to get back to me. I emailed them several weeks ago and had no response. I called them last week and was told that somebody would return my call. Never happened.

Faced with the possibility of having to find another event, I called them on Monday and was told that they had not received my photos. Been doing this event for several years now and was there for two excruciatingly terrible weekends last year. So, I played the game and sent them in. Today I received the rejection letter - FIVE FREAKING WEEKS AFTER I SENT IN. They are being very inconsiderate toward the vendors and they could care less about us. Their show stinks. It sucks. They've been having it for two three-day weekends for many years and vendors have sat for hours and hours with no sales. So they changed it to one two-day weekend this year and called it by another name. It's a terrible show. The crowds were much smaller last year and if you are located in one of the two 'slow traffic' buildings you are totally screwed. Nobody comes to the last building and few go to the middle building. The show stinks. Not worth the money. They really gave a bunch of vendors the shaft this year.

Meridian Square Fair/Bazaar, San Jose, CA

Vendor's Needed for Meridian Square Fair/Bazaar on Oct 31, 2009 in San Jose. Click on image for more details.

COSTCO CARAVAN CANOPIES

Here's a picture of our COSTCO CARAVAN Alumina CANOPY. It just collapsed, plain and simple. Luckily nobody was around. Please be sure to check out http://www.starvingvendors.com or go to http://www.starvingvendors.com/events_Alma_Heights_CA_flea_market.html to see more images of this durable, reliable canopy.

Telephone Rip Off Calls

Just received a call on my cell phone. Now there are like 4-5 people in this whole wide world that have my cell phone number. They tell me to press number '1' so I did. Kind of curious. The lady told me that she wanted to give me updated credit card rates. I asked her how did she get my number. She then told me that she got it from the Merican Credit Buuu. What? The Merican Credit Buuuu. Oh gosh, are you trying to say "bureau?" Yes, The Merican Credit Buuu. She then started telling me about credit card rates and I then axed (get it?) her how she got my number and she hung up. Her number? Of course I will tell you. 228-209-9560. Did a search on the number and there is a lot of info on this. They are trying to get your credit card numbers, etc. or try to swindle you in some other way, shape or form.

San Juan Bautista Chicken Festival

San Juan Bautista Chicken Festival, Sep 19-20, 2009.

This was not a very good show for the vendors and you know something was wrong when they lowered the booth fee. This town has several events during the year and sometimes vendors do somewhat okay. Such was not the case for this event and we could say that perhaps 3,500-4,200 people attended the event over the two days. Not really a spending crowd and I don't think that this event draws very many tourists. With proper advertising and a 'good drawing card' you could pick travelers off the highway. There were around 60-70 vendors and 4-5 food booths along with a little bit of entertainment, which livened things up a little bit. Perhaps the highlight of the event was the Chicken Dance contest and that certainly isn't going to draw people there. Seemingly a local crowd with maybe people from Hollister and Gilroy. Booth fees were reasonable, but there was a reason for that. Never travel far for this one, I didn't.

Please click on link to read more about the event.

http://www.starvingvendors.com/events_chicken_festival_2009.html

Manteca Pumpkin Fair - Oct 3-4

Manteca, CA

The annual Pumpkin Fair presented by the Manteca Sunrise Kiwanis, will be held on the first full Saturday and Sunday of October in downtown Manteca from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Street Fair portion complete with pumpkin patch, kids zone, truck show, car show, motorcycle run, three stages and over 150 vendors will once again be located in downtown Manteca near Library Park.

To read more about the event, please click on the link below:

http://www.starvingvendors.com/events_Manteca_Pumpkin_Fair_2009.html

Cherry's Jubilee at Laguna Seca Raceway

Salinas, CA. Sep 26-27. We sold our goods at Cherry's Jubilee Motorsports Festival in the 'paddock' area of Mazda Laguna Seca Track. Here's a portion of our review of the event.

We left Hayward and arrived at Laguna Seca around 7:15. I was told yesterday that there could be a long line of cars waiting to get in. Yah right. We zoomed up the zig-zag road up and over the hills and on to the paddock area where the show was being held. No cars yet for the show. Pulled up alongside our space and emptied out a couple things from the van and had my son drive it up to the vendor parking area. The first thing I did was to take down our covers, which surrounded our canopy and folded them up. We then proceeded to put up our merchandise as other vendors arrived and did the same.

Click on link below to read our complete review of the event

http://www.starvingvendors.com/Events_Cherry

Vacaville Harvest Days - 2007

UPDATE: Just remembering when we did this event. Beware. The amusement park has now closed and things might be worse... or they might be better. Moi? Uh uh.

Oct 2007. As we are getting closer toward Halloween, I recall spending a couple weekends at this Vacaville event. Let's share the horrors of two weekends at the Vacaville Harvest Days.

Vacaville Harvest Days. Very bad show!! Never again. This event was held over two weekends at the Nut Tree in Vacaville, adjacent to Highway 80. Long ago, there was a restaurant, etc., there by the name of Nut Tree and it was a great stopover for travelers. People that traveled Highway 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento back in the 70's and 80's would remember the place dearly. Very nice place to take the kids, grab some snacks, etc. However, it hit hard times a number of years ago and closed because people had other places to go. October 20-21 and October 27-28.Anyway, they have capitalized on the Nut Tree name and built a number of stores there. Vacaville Harvest Days was poorly organized. On the first weekend it was held in front and there was virtually no foot traffic. Heavy winds at night blew over our canopy and when we came back the following morning, everything was a mess.

You can read this story on the Do You Remember page of our website. Also, read about the heavy winds we had to endure there and at other shows on our Flying Canopies page.
Also, please refer to entry made on Oct 1 on this blog: http://thisaintparadise.blogspot.com/search/label/vacaville%20harvest%20days

Thank gosh we had taken our merchandise home from the Vacaville Harvest Days event because we were aware of the local riff-raffs!!! On the second weekend, it was held in the back in the Pumpkin Patch, which turned out to be even worse. Everybody had poor sales. Everybody!!! Very poor traffic flow and people just were not interested. Take the kids to the Pumpkin Patch, grab a pumpkin and drive away. We were forced to walk a very long ways to the bathrooms. Promoters claimed they couldn't put porta potties back there for our convenience. City this, city that, fire department this, police department that.... they were ready to blame the failure of Vacaville Harvest Days on everybody else except themselves. So, people the moral of the story is to never do this event. You are not going to make any money, There is no paradise there...keep on truckin!!! And the other moral of the story? If you are ever going to leave your canopy up overnight, either put up all or none of your side panels. Mistakenly, I only put up 3 and the canopy caught the wind over night and toppled over. What a mess in the morning!! Vacaville Harvest Days ... what a mess.