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

Remembering 9-11

I think we all have not-so-fond memories of that eventful day. I had just taken my son to high school that morning. I dropped by 7-11 to pick up a newspaper (what's that?). They had a TV on over there and I looked up at it and they were showing clips of the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Unbelieveable. Truly remarkable. I hurried home and stayed glued to the TV set throughout much of the day.That following weekend, we did the Atwater Fall Festival and the mood was somewhat somber as people were still pretty much in shock. Thinking back, you wonder why they didn't cancel the event, but I guess so many people were already committed (and I had paid my booth fee) to it and it was a source of income for community organizations. The show must go on?

It was in a park there and I guess the vendors didn't really do all that well. Fortunately, I was selling patriotic t-shirts, which were bought by many of the people that attended. In the oncoming years, we never returned to that festival, as we did one closer to home on that weekend, Castro Valley Fall Festival. Our 'fondest' memory of the event was that the music was not very good at all and the singing was out of synch.... and they didn't have these 'idol' contests back then. I know that we need to encourage our singers, but really. Maybe some of those people should have tried an instrument if they 'think' that they are musically inclined. Know what I mean?

Vendor News

I have just started a new Forum for people selling at festivals, arts and crafts shows, etc. Please stop by and contribute. The old forum that we were using had a lot of problems and this looks like it's going to run a lot more smoothly,

Vendor News

Dogs at Festivals, Arts and Craft Shows, etc.

This weekend I was a vendor at the Foster City Arts and Wine Festival and there were lots of people and pretty much a decent event.

However, there appears to be a huge dog population in the area and many of the owners like to take their 'significant mutters' to the event. I have seen loads of dogs at many events and I can't understand why any normal person would want to bring their dog to such a place.

What really bothers me is that there are many instances of dogs urinating in people's booths and a lot of the vendors do not realize where those puddles in their booths are coming from. A friend of mine noticed that a dog had urinated on his table covers and had to throw it away. I had a mysterious puddle in my booth and it wasn't until later that it dawned on me that the only way that could have appeared in my space was for a dog to have relieved itself. This is digusting people. Have you no shame? You bring your mutts to these shows and you are so uncaring that you allow 'that thing' of yours to urinate around people's belongings. I have seen your dogs pee in front of my booth on many occasions throughout the years. Leave your damm dogs at home, okay? I'm not even going to mention about your dogs sticking their noses on our clothing, etc. after they have walked around sniffing other dog's booties.

Los Banos Street Faire - April 18, 2009

We arrived at our space and set up. It was 7:00 and it was already getting warm. Crowds were late and very light throughout the day, as compared to other year's here. There were way too many booths for the amount of people attending and the people around here do not have much money. Sales were down this year for us, but we didn't do 'terrible' like some of the other vendors.

I can't understand why you have 4 blocks of vendors, etc. and you are only providing 6 porta-potties. Three on a side street in the middle of the show and another 3 at the far end (our end, luckily) at a car show across the street. Still a long walk. To read my review of this event and many others please click here.

BOOTH FEES: $50 for one space; $80 for two. Anything goes. Excellent. When people are buying, the 'value' of the show is $80-$100. Note: This event is held in mid-April, right on the outer fringes of our rainy season and weather could be a problem. Thus, perhaps the reason for low booth fees.

PROMOTERS: They handle the show pretty good and there is a good police presence throughout the event. Very nice. However, they do not send confirmation of acceptance and need to work on the porta-pottie solutionn.

THE GOOD: Cheap. Spaces are 15 feet wide. Great for us and others who need to display ln side of canopy. Parking not a problem, at least on the far end. They had people sit in for vendors leaving for toilet and food breaks.

THE BAD: Porta potties. Car show in separate area across the street. Food booths spaced amongst vendors. Might be better to put them all in a separate area. There were a number of non-profit hot dogs, etc. I don't know if they would do any good if they were together with other food vendors.

Riconada Hills Bazaar

Going to do the Riconada Hills Bazaar in Los Gatos. I guess this is a new location for this promoter's show and is held the last Saturday of the month from 9AM-4PM. Located at 1500 Pollard Road at the shopping center. click here for more info. Alpha Zeta Events.

Evidently, this show was held at a different location previously. Can anybody give me some info about it? Thank you...dave

check out Starving Vendors where you can see reviews from many of the events we have done. Also listings of European, Philippine Festivals and a whole lot more. Great site!! You'll love it.

Craft Show Vendor Liability Insurance

I have been compiling a listing of companies that offer insurance for vendors at craft shows, festivals, etc.

Specialty Insurance Agency. I looked at their website and it's hard to find info about policies. The policies run from September to August and it's roughly $350 per year. You really need to wait until September in order to get your money's worth. I have a friend who is insured through them and he says they are excellent. They also have an ad in Craftmaster News (pg 121 Feb/Mar issue) paper issue. You may subscribe to this publication. Best around.

Center West Insurance Agency. Tel 800-455-6974. centerwestinsurance@lanset,com I saw their ad in Craftmaster and looked at their website but didn't see anything about specific policies. Recommend emailing them for info.

RLI Home Business Insurance. This looks like it might be decent. Check it out.

To see more, please visit my website for the complete listing

If you know of any others, please let me know.... thank you

Clovis Big Hat Days Festival - April 4-5

Big Hat Days in Clovis will be held on April 4-5. For an application, click here

Booth spaces are expensive, running around $435 for commercial and A&C. About two hundred dollars too high for me. Include gas and motel prices...ouch. However, they do get one heck of a lot of vendors for this show and also a huge crowd. Here is my review of last year's event: Too
Weather was great. Big crowds, they came out for this one. Show is over-priced for vendors. A lot of people did Manteca's Street Faire, but I would stay away from that one. They added more booths (again) this year in Clovis. We were located all the way at the end of Section J here in Clovis, but that wasn't too bad.

Click here to read the remainder of this review.

2009 Contemporary Crafts Market.

2009 Contemporary Crafts Market. March 14-15, 2009. Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA. View their website for more info and listing of vendors.

10:00 am - 5:00 pm, DailyAdmission $7, Children 12 & Under FREE( San Francisco, Calif.)

The Contemporary Crafts Market will return to San Francisco’s historic Fort Mason Center March 14-15, 2009, and will showcase over 230 of the nation’s finest artists and their distinctive works.As the premiere event for one-of-a-kind functional and decorative crafts, the show will present a broad range of pieces including intricate jewelry, unique glassware and ceramics, hand-painted textiles, custom furniture, mixed-media creations and much more.

All items on display and for sale have been jury-selected for their exceptional quality.All the work in these shows is made by the participating artists. All the artists are residents in the United States. The participants have undergone a rigorous screening process to qualify as participants in this show and we are proud to showcase them.

VENDORS: Boycott Auburn Events

From what I understand there were a number of vendors who sent in their payments for the Oakhurst Home and Garden (formerly Mountain Peddler's Fair in May. On the applications, it stated that this event was to be held over Memorial Day Weekend and people made their payments. However, the dates were changed to the week before and some people might be very surprised, especially when they show up on Memorial Weekend and there is no show. This was a very bad move on their part. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But this show was broken many years ago when they moved it out of the parking lot at the shopping center.

I know a vendor who had sent in payment for a Home and Garden show in Auburn that same weekend, but later he was surprised to find out that he now had two shows scheduled for the same weekend. He called the promoters at the Fairgrounds there and explained to them what had happened. They were bastards about it and refused to refund the money AND they refused to credit him that $300 for a show later in the year there. I myself have had bad experiences with these people and I am calling for a boycott of events at the Fairgrounds in Auburn until they do what is right. This could happen to you. Please do not participate in events there.

Canopies for events (EZups, Caravan, etc)

ADDED ON 01/06/09 I just received my canopy and opened it up and it was broken. I am through with these cheap COSTCO canopies...like I said last week, mentioning that they are cheaply made. The PLASTIC PIECE ON ONE OF THE CORNERS was broken and the canopy is useless. I called COSTCO and had to wait half an hour and they told me to call the individual stores and that I did. Hayward Business Center....no canopy. San Leandro, no canopy. Fremont... no canopy and I was told that the COSTCO's no longer carry them in their stores, you have to order them. I explained that I needed it by Tuesday and it was tough turkey for me. He said that I could bring my canopy to any store and get a refund. Wow. What a burn. Did I ever get screwed on this piece of junk. DO NOT BUY COSTCO CANOPIES.

I doubt that UPS damaaged it in shipping because there were no frayed edges on the box. No sign of damage on it. Additionally there's a round thing that goes on top of the canopy and it was attached to the middle pole that extends upward. Broken. So it looks like I have to use an old CARAVAN canopy of mine that has a big tear on the side of the top piece and I have to tie a couple pieces together to hold them in place. My 'better' canopy has patched up holes on top and a couple connectors snapped. Both covers sag terribly and I hope that we don't have rain. I am sure that either of those two canopie would win the 'Ugliest Canopy Contest'.

I will never ever buy another COSTCO CANOPY again. Usually I get to use them 2 or 3 times at least before they start breaking, cover tearing or pieces snapping off. Pay the money... GET YOURSELF a decent EZ-UP or something similar, but do not buy COSTCO CANOPIES. Piece of trash.

This is what I said last week, before I received the canopy.

I just came across a website that has a wide selection of canopies for A&C Shows, festivals, street fairs or whatever you wish to one for. I just bought my 4th Caravan Canopy from COSTCO and they are half-way decent. Kind of light though and not made of steel like some of the better quality one's out there. Covers are fair and the sides of these are cheaply made.

If you want somewhat better quality canopies, such as the E-Z Up's here is a website that you can take a look at. They have a nice selection and the website is nicely designed. Large pictures of various canopies along with the features of each. They have The ENTERPRISE II, HUT, & ECLIPSE II. Also DOME II. They have accessories for the canopies; sidewalls, etc

http://www.craftcanopy.com/ezup.htm

Chandler Ostrich Festival

Re-living the Chandler Ostrich Festival of 2006. OUR WORST EVENT EVER.

It's that time of year again when we (vendors, etc.) are all working on our schedules for next year and begin sending in our booth fees and applications, etc. I could never forget the last time we did the Chandler Ostrich Festival. There are a good number of us (vendors) that will never do this event again.....especially if you have to travel a great distance for it.

One of our worst, most disastrous weekends ever. We went a long ways for this one and this turned out to be one of the most stressful weekends we ever had to endure. 145 days of drought in the Phoenix area ended with 1 1/2 days of torrential downpours that turned the vendor area into a foot-deep lake and the parking lot into a mud bog where it was virtually impossible for vendors to get their vehicles out until the mud dried. It started raining on Friday evening. Throughout the night, we listened to the rain coming down on top of our motor home. Periodically, the rain would slow down, but would come down hard shortly after. Earlier on Friday, there were reports of possible rain. As I walked around the vendor area, located in a gully, I realized that if we were to get a large amount of rain, the area is going to flood. The ground was hard and it would take a long time for the water to seep through. Fortunately, when we closed up Friday evening, we removed most of our things from the ground.Upon awakening Saturday morning, it was still raining and we pretty much knew that the day was going to be a 'washout'. All day long the rains kept coming and coming.

As we sat in the motor home in the parking lot we saw it turning to mud, as some vehicles passed by. We began to wonder if we would be able to get our vehicle out of the parking lot as we saw many vehicles actually get stuck in the mud; tow trucks couldn't even get them out. Night-time came and it was still raining. It kept up until early Sunday morning. We finally went to our booth around 8:00AM and found the top sagging with water and a huge lake surrounding the booths located in the gully, What a bonehead idea to put vendors down in here.

We waited for several hours before they began pumping out the water. The rains ended around 5:00AM and they did not even begin pumping the water until after 11:00AM. The promoters claimed that since it was Sunday, they could not contact the workers. You know, you see the area turning into a lake on Saturday, but you don't think about making arrangements to pump the water out. I mean, like...uhhh... the water is just going to dissapear. Many people told me that the ground would just absorb the water and it would dissapear. People, the ground was rock solid and very little of it will seep inside. Am I missing something here?

They proceded to pump out the water. As the time approached 2:00PM, the water was just about gone and we were able to open up. We still had major problems with the parking lot because we weren't sure if we'd be able to get out of there. However, just after it became dark, I figured that the mud had dried enough to enable me to escape. Do you like nightmares? This was one hell of a nightmare and everything bad that could possibly happen, did occur.

You can read my complete story, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN or NO SYMPATHY FROM THE DEVIL ....a true account of the Chandler Ostrich Festival and Brown Amusements on our website:

http://www.dandlcreations.com/chandler.htm

Show Reviews

As I mentioned, we have quite a number of reviews on events we have done and have pages devoted to a fair number of other events. I think that you will really find a good number of these reviews, etc., quite informative.

More recently we have done the Antioch Holiday Craft Fair, the EOS Winery (Paso Robles) Arts and Crafts Show, Monterey Columbus Day Festival, Homefront Festival by the Bay,

Other events include the Castro Valley Fall Festival, Pittsburg Seafood Festival

You can read about our 'Tales of Woe' which are stories about some of the worst disasters and trying times we had to endure at certain festivals this year. the Memorial Day Lake Tahoe Miller's Y event put us through living hell on earth, Worse weather conditions ever for us. Imagine snow in May? Rain, wind, cold 38 degrees.

There was the Chandler Ostrich Festival a number of years ago when we had to deal with a two-foot lake of water caused by torrential downpours of 36 hours of rain, Bad show also, poor booth arrangement,.

Strange, eerie happenings on Highway 126 in Oregon on our way to the Deschutes County fair, which ended up pretty bad. Over 230,000 people and hardly anybody buying from anybody. Good show to stay away from.

Polls

When you are walking around festivals, etc., does somebody ever approach you and ask you to take a poll, etc. or answer a bunch of questions? Usually there's about half a dozen individuals stopping people and asking. If you say 'yes' they show you over to a tent which has a bunch of computers there and you answer the questions. I have no idea what is being asked, but I stay away from them. The main purpose of these polls are not to collect information, but rather to collect names for mailing/email lists which they sell to companies. I believe that they get paid $1.00 per name collected. Sorry, but they are not interested in your opinion.

I was at Home Depot this morning and the guy hands me my receipt and tells me that if I call a certain number that is listed and take their 'poll' then I could win $5,000. Well, just think of how many people nationwide follow through on this and they compile their mailing lists and sell them. Once again, not interested in your opinion.....just interested in making many times more than the $5,000 that they are supposedly giving away.

I stay at Motel 6 and they also offer a chance to win a cash prize. Your chances of actually winning anything answering all these people's questions is extremely thin, But their chances of them making money off the use of your name, etc., is what it is all about.

So, it's up to you. That's what is happening,

Harvest Days - Vacaville

This is a very lousy event. So many problems. Just received an application for the Harvest Day's Festival in Vacaville at the Nut Tree. Dates: Oct 18-19, 25-26. Please read what I have written about this event in the past.

http://www.starvingvendors.com/do_you_remember.html 'Vacaville Harvest Days' on right.

http://thisaintparadise.blogspot.com/search/label/vacaville%20harvest%20days read previous entry made earlier on this blog regarding this event.

I can't believe they are having the Harvest Days Festival again. I did two weekends last year there in Vacaville and it was terrible. On the first weekend, we were located in an area in front of the Nut Tree. About a dozen vendors there. Very poor traffic flow, as people headed into the Nut Tree and the amusement area, not even paying attention to us. Very very poor sales and strong winds, which blew over our canopy at night. Everybody had to pack up at night because it was unsafe.

For the second weekend at Harvest Days, we were located near the Pumpkin Patch in the back and traffic flow was even worse. We packed up and left after the first day, as did a number of other vendors. Virtually nobody buying anything. The kids went over to the pumpkin patch with their parents, grabbed their pumpkins and got the heck out. Absolutely terrible show. Had to walk about half-a-mile to go to the bathroom. The promoters claimed that the city wouldn't allow porta potties. Bull Marlarky.

They force you to pay $25 for a 'police permit' which means that you have to submit your driver's license number, SSN, etc., to them and the police run a check on you like you are some kind of a criminal.

People, this is a terrible show. Stay away from Vacaville's Harvest Days. You are not going to make any money here and there are just so many problems which will drive you crazy.

Show listings, events, etc.

Here's this weeks' listing of Bay Area events, festivals, etc. These listings are pretty much for the general public.

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Lathrop Days, Lathrop, CA
Looks like probably a nice event for the locals. However, they are still soliciting for vendors and we all know what that means. Perhaps one of the problems is that they have the wrong website listing in Craftmaster's.
http://www.lathropdays.net/

Fri/Sat/Sun Sep 26-28 Arts & Crafts Sidewalk Street Fair, Walnut Creek, CA
Link to Website

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28, Octoberfest, Clayton, CA
http://www.claytonoktoberfest.com/

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Folsom Gourd & Arts Festival, Folsom, CA
http://www.folsomgourdfestival.com/

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Pacific Coast Fog Festival, Pacifica, CA

Sat/Sun Sep 27-28 Taste of Morgan Hill, Morgan Hill, CA
http://www.morganhill.org/

Events gone by the wayside...some good...some..

I have a page on our website dedicated to a number of events that we have done over the years' and have gone by the wayside. They are no more. Some of them were pretty interesting and very good and of course several of these I am grateful that they no longers exist.

This event was held a number of years in San Jose. If you wish to read more about this one, please visit Do You Remember.

SOFA STREET FAIR, San Jose, CA along first street in San Jose
South of A Street Fair. More commonly known as the SOFA Street Fair. Believe it or not, there would be a bunch of people who would haul out their old beaten up couches (sofa's) and set them up on the sidewalk to watch the goings-on. This event was popular during the 90’s and was held on First Street near the night clubs. A one-day event, it attracted a wide array of vendors and quite an assortment of fair-goers.

I do not know what happened to this event, but we did it for 3 years. It was wild at times as there were numerous bars and night clubs located along the street. All kinds of people were attracted to this event.

I have also written about the following events there:

MID TOWN STREET FAIR, Sacramento SOFA STREET FAIR, San Jose, CA FAIRGLEN ART FESTIVAL, San Jose, Ca FOSTER CITY 4TH of July CELEBRATION, Foster City, CA NEW AGE RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL, San Jose, CA PINOLE SPRING FESTIVAL, Pinole, CA HARVEST DAYS, Vacaville, CA BURRITO BASH, Watsonville, CA VACAVILLE BIZARRE BAZAAR, Vacaville, CA

Add-on fees for booth spaces in events

The cost of doing shows has been rising and our net profits are going down. Gas prices have really killed us and we all are cutting back on shows we have to travel distances to.

In many events, promoters have raised their booth fees and a lot of them come up with these 'add-on charges.' Many now require 'city permits' and fees range from $25-$50 and up. A few years back, you hardly ever saw this, but the promoters AND city governments want to extract as much money out of us as possible. There are cities that require a 'police permit' or a 'peddlers permit' and that can run from $25 and up. You provide them with your driver's license, social security number, name, address, etc., and they run a police check on you as if you are a criminal. It's degrading, I think.

Of course a lot of them have 'jury fees' where you send in your application with photos, etc., and they jury you. I admit that it is important to screen out undesirable merchandise and if you are running a quality Arts and Crafts Event, then I really understand. However, a lot of the promoters are following suit and charging you for this in order to collect more money from us. This fee can range from $20 to $50. What bothers me about this is that these fees are non-refundable. You don't get the money back if you are not accepted, which is definitely wrong.

Now think about this. If 10,000 vendors send in applications with a $30 jury fee, then the promoter has collected $300,000 for doing absolutely nothing. Some just take your application and pictures and put them in an envelope. They put on your address and place a $.42 stamp on the envelope. Ahhhhh. That's a NET PROFIT DEAL..... Some promoters can make a nice living off these fees. The double whammy on this is that they are accepting these jury fees even after they have been filled up. They don't even look at the pictures, so there was actually NO JURYING. Do you think that this is legal?

All of us vendors do have canopies, etc. Another gimmick is for promoters to force you to use a canopy that THEY HAVE RENTED from some rental company. Of course, we all have canopies, etc., but many of us prefer to use our own, since ours are easier to set up our displays in. More so, we are being charged one way or another for these rental canopies. You have promoters who order up a hundred, two hundred canopies for a show. They naturally get a good 'rental rate' on these and then they charge perhaps, double what their cost was. That is just another way for them to get money out of vendors.

For more information about vendors, shows, reviews and crazy satirical stories about the business, come on over to Starving Vendors and check things out.

Mt. Shasta 4th of July Festival

COME TO MT. SHASTA CITY'S 4th of July FESTIVAL. FRI/SAT/SUN
A very nice celebration held in this scenic town. Lots to do and see!! Loads of fun. Vendors.

It's all systems go for this weekend's 4th of July Celebration in scenic Mt. Shasta City, located north of Redding. Many of the other shows in the areas west of Highway 5 have cancelled their events due to the fires, which hopefully are subsiding.

Temps are supposed to be in the mid-80's with a bit of humidity due to the smoke. Hopefully, no thunderstorms. Last year, the weather was unbearable, with temperatures soaring to 110 degrees. That was hot, my friends. Hotter than....uh uh uh.

On Friday morning, the fun-run/walk kicks off at 8:30 am, parade at noon and fireworks over over Lake Siskiyou at dusk. Booths and live music downtown on 5th and 6th and Castle Street. A big celebration for a small town! Our booth is located over there in the parking lot on Castle Street. Here's a link to the schedule of events:

http://mtshastachamber.com/chamber/4thofjuly.pdf

Chamber of commerce - other events
http://mtshastachamber.com/visitor/events.php

Fiesta Filipina - San Francisco

June 7-8. I am hoping to hear from people who did this event. Originally we planned in participating in this festival for the 9th consecutive year, but when I contacted the 'new promoter' I found out that spaces were $700. So, we signed up to do the Hercules Cultural Festival in the East Bay. While in Oakdale, I was told that there was another promoter involved who was offering spaces for $375.00 and that would have been fine with me, but I had already paid for the other event and we were unable to participate. Still, the $375 was a hefty increase in booth fees for this show and us vendors are victims of price gouging by promoters, etc.

Anyhow, we do expect to return to Fiesta Filipino at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco next year and we hope to see a lot of our returning customers and other vendors with whom we have shared our aquaintances with over the years. The entertainment there has always been great and occasionally is beamed back to 'The Islands'. In the past, they have had very large crowds on the Sunday of the show.

And what do I think of this event? Let's give it a 4-lumpia rating!!!