Pallen Martial Arts

Pallen Martial Arts had a booth next to us at the Castro Valley Fall Festival. Last year we had problems with them conducting their activities and solicting new students in front of our booth, blocking customers from accessing our booth. Additionally, a number of them kept RUNNING through our booth also and were a nuisance.

This weekend, the students of Pallen Martial Arts were absolutely terrible and I recommend that parents do not allow their children to learn about Martial Arts from them. On Saturday, these students conducted business and did demonstrations outside their booth, approximately 2/3 ways across the aisle, disrupting traffic flow down the aisle. They solicited potential students, parents, etc., in front of our booth and blocked traffic flow to one-half of our area on a continual basis. Many times I asked them to move their activities over to their booth and they were disrupting my sales. They would just say 'oh, I'm sorry' and go about their business, soon thereafter resuming what they had been doing. The students of Pallen Martial Arts were also told by the promoters of the event to 'confine' their activities.

Pallen Martials Arts continued doing this on Sunday and they showed no RESPECT for anybody. They thought all this was a big joke. The promoters of the event came over and asked them once again to confine their activites, but soon after, they would be outside blocking traffic and doing their demonstrations, attracting crowds of 5-20 people at times. They spread over to my booth and customers could not see my booth nor could they get in. During the morning one of them had his big gigantic mutt sit down in front of our booth and they confronted customers once again. Other dogs came over and they exchange butt sniffs and occasionally they would be jumping around, scaring off potential customers. These Pallen Martial Arts Students were terrible and I am really wondering exactly what they are teaching these kids. I mean these kids do not listen to anybody, wise ass neighboring vendors and just plain out disrespectful toward adults. Do you want to expose your children to these monsters at Pallen Martial Arts. Heck, if one of my kids were there, I'd yank him/her out so quickly.

Castro Valley Fall Festival - Sep 13-14

CASTRO VALLEY, CA. I have been doing this event for approx 10 years now and this is the worst year ever. I've always enjoyed this event and we have a good location for our booth. The promoters, Festival Productions, once again did a great job with the show and I commend them once again, as they (Jeff & Jerry Cambra) put on another great event.

However, you can lead the horse to the water and stick his nose in it, but you can not make him drink it. And that's the way the story goes. People just not buying. I guess some vendors did okay, but a huge majority had big drops in sales, including us. We just have to ride this decline in the economy out.

We had huge problems with the booth next to us which was the Pellen Martial Arts School, located in Castro Valley. They had some of their 'students' there solicting membership. They absolutely horrendous and you can read about them in another post that I have in this blog.

Holiday Crafter's Fair - San Jose Flea Market

This is a yearly event held in the Pavillion building at the San Jose Flea Market, PRESENTLY located at 1590 Berryessa Rd.

We all are looking for events in November and December and this might not be a bad event for vendors. We have done it perhaps 5 times over a number of years, more recently 2 years ago. Rich and Susana do a decent job and have had the show for quite awhile. This show may or may not work for everybody, The price is great..$39 for the first, $19 for the second, etc. Quite a bit of advertising and they do have signs and banners at the Flea Market directing people over there.

You must take into mind, that this event is held at a gigantic flea market and sometimes, there are quite a bit of people strolling around. If the weather is bad...raining, cold, etc., then people seek refuge inside the building and shop around, On the other hand, if you have the other extreme, beautiful sunny days, then people somewhat avoid going in and it can be quite slow. I know a number of vendors that do the show and some do decently but much of their success depends upon their return customers who stop by for Christmas gifts. I think that by now, you have probably noticed that there are 'slight' problems with the economy and this has unfortunately been a disaster to many events and vendors. This is a hit or miss event... it gets slow sometimes, but I recommend doing it just for the price alone,..... very reasonable. The bottom line for me is that people can buy similar items out in the actual flea market area cheaper. If you have unique items, true A&C and certain jewelry items, then it will be worthwhile. It wouldn't be hard to get your 10X booth fees here.

I have had good shows here and bad ones too, A couple years ago, I had two spaces and did fair. Not great. Somewhat slow most of the time. I had both canopies up and also had the back of my canopies covered up and I really didn't have great lighting inside. There was an Indian lady located in back of me selling all kinds of stuff. On Saturday, she actually hung a lot of things on the back of my canopy....without asking, of course. Never in my 16 years had I ever had somebody do that. So, because she had all this garbage hanging from the back of my booth, it made things even darker inside. On Sunday, I decided that I would take down all my covers in order to get more light inside and to get them out of the way, I went over to the lady and explained to her that she would have to remove her items from the back of my canopy. She got mad.....she tried to tell me that is part of her space and I couldn't tell her to take them down. At first, she REFUSED to take them down and I told her again. Finally, I walked over to her and told her that she has 10 minutes to get her things down. She got mad and had enough gall to bring the promoter over and tell them. Made a complete jack ass and a half out of herself (again). I told the promoters that she now had two minutes to take her stuff down and that was that. They made her take down. Can you imagine how idiotic something like that is?

So, there you have it,. If you are a vendor looking for an event to do during the weekend of Novmber 15-16, I'd give it a shot. You can drive in on Friday to set up, but getting out of there Sunday evening is a different story. Quite difficult as there are a number of uncooperative people that make it difficult and it can get very tricky maneuvering your way around the flea market attempting to get inside the building,

If yo are interested in this event, you can contact Rich Alvari and/or Susana del Rosario at phone number 408 453-1110 x215. Do not call the actual Flea Market...this is Rich's & Susana's event. It's also listed in Craftmaster.

Nigerian Email Scam

Just got an email on this... Not following through to see what is happening, but anything from Nigeria is a scam. SPAM CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!!! At some time, I am certain they will ask for bank info.

.Subject: HAVE YOU BEEN SCAMMED ? (SCAMMED VICTIM/BENEFICIARY)
Date: 9/15/2008 5:29:51 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time From: efcccrimedept@crimefighter.com
Reply To: dept.fruad_efccnigeria@yahoo.com

EFCC HEAD OFFICE1
IBRAHIM TAIWO ROAD
ASO ROCK VILLA
PMB 166
FCT ABUJA,
NIGERIA

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION 2008COMPENSATION PAYMENTDIRECTOR.EFCC.

PLEASE HELP US STOP SCAMATTENTION: Sir,SCAMMED VICTIM/BENEFICIARY. REF/PAYMENTS CODE:06654,

This is to bring to your notice that we are delegated from the United Nations to Eco bank Nigeria to pay 100 Nigerian 419 scam victims the amount being ripped by Nigerian scam artists, you are listed for this payments as one of the scammed victims,get back to us as soon as possible for the immediate payment of your compensations payment.We have made several inquiries and have discovered that you were among those victims being duped by Nigerian scam artists so we are here to enlighten you and to let you know that the FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA founded this organization to fight against cybercrime in our country (EFCC).

To read the rest of this along with many other scams, please visit my website: Starving Vendors http://www.starvingvendors.com/Internet_email_scams.html

100 Thousand People still Missing - Newark Days

NEWARK, CA.. Well people, we're just a week away from Newark Day's (Sep 20-21) and I still haven't found the 100,000 people that came up missing at last year's event. As we recall, they claimed that they get 130,000 for the event and things were pretty slow on Saturday and Sunday.

Here's what I wrote about last years event in STARVING VENDORS:

Did they have 150,000 people at the Newark Days Celebration in Newark, CA on September 22-23? That's what they claim. Actually, since there were probably around 30,000 people there, I am worried about the 120,000 people that are missing. No earthquakes.....couldn't have lost them there. Where's Waldo? Remember him? Maybe we can find him? No hurricanes....no tsunami's.....no sinkholes.. I GUESS JUST PLAIN OL' MISSING right off the face of the earth. They said that they get 150,000 for the event, but I couldn't find them? I looked under tries, in the porta-potties, behind buildings, all over the place.

So, this is now September 2008 and no sign of these people anywhere. Will they pop up there this year or are we going to be missing another 100K. It does look like we'll be getting much better weather this time around, BUT I NOT GOING TO BE THERE. We shall be at the Chabot College Flea Market on Saturday and if I can find some parking on Sunday, I might drop by and check the side streets to see where all the people are hiding. Last year, we were located in the parking lot and thought we had a good spot. Uh uh uh. People just entered from there and crossed over from the parking lot and continued over to the food and carnival area. If you have things that would interest the kid's, then I would highly recommend getting your space located near the rides and food. If you are elsewhere... el suckarooski. I have no plans on ever doing this event. Spaces are pretty good size, but don't you kind of wonder why?

Can you find them here?

What your 'oil money' has bought them.

(The Burj Dubai. Construction began in 2005 and is expected to be complete by 2008. At an estimated height of over 800 meters, it will easily be world’s tallest building when finished. It will be almost 40% taller than the the current tallest building, the Taipei 101.)

Refillable Ink cartridges

About a month ago, I thought I could save some money by getting my ink cartridges (color, black&white) refilled at Walgreens. I had the two cartridges sitting around until the other ones I had in ran out of ink. Replaced them the other day and the black one was dry. I saved money all right. Might as well head on over to Office Depot and pick up a real BLACK INK cartridge. What a rip off. Anybody have a similar experience?

Castro Valley Fall Festival - Sep 13-14

THIS COMING WEEKEND, Come on out and enjoy yourselves at the Castro Valley Fall Festival. Been doing this event for years and it's one of the better, more organized events around. We (DandL CREATIONS) are located in space#345 on Castro Valley Boulevard near Washington Mutual. We sell shoulder bags, fannypacks, backpacks, beautiful handmade shell necklaces, tote bags, wrap-around skirts and a whole lot more.

Looks like the weather shall be cooperating this year, with expected temp in the mid-70's and plenty of sunshine, Many booths and pretty decent food. Every year that we do the Castro Valley Fall Festival, I make sure to stop by the Philly Cheese Steak Shop over in the village for a half-ways decent Cheesesteak Sandwich. Can't compare to ones back east I have had, but one of the better ones around. Try their 15-incher.

So once again people...come on down and check things out. Don't let all those football games on TV, etc., deter you from checking things out. Castro Valley Fall Festival located along Castro Valley Boulevard west of Redwood Rd/A Street.

Pittsburg Seafood Festival Sep 6-7

Saturday, September 6, 2008. My gosh...where do I start with this one. One day gone; one day to go. Temps reached 101 degrees. It was terrably, excrutiatingly HOT. Please read my review Pittsburg Seafood Festival; I have lots to say about the Pittsburg Seafood Festival and certainly even more after today. Lots of people, but they just walked past the booths over to the food and entertainment areas and we were more or less, window dressing. We did catch our expenses, but that was by default.

I guess that you can truly refer to this event as a 'Seafood Festival' because there are a lot of food vendors selling seafood. Even saw somebody selling 'Alligator on a Stick.' No thank you, Vendors on the whole, did not do very good and it was a very hot day, with temps reaching 101 during the afternoon. Lots of people, but they were mostly heading for the food and tertainment areas, most of them bypassing the vendors. We were able to meet expenses today, but by default. We had NO SHADE. You know, one day does not make a show...but lots of problems here.

Vendors had to park in a lot well over a mile away from the Pittsburg Seafood Festival. Long hot walk and it was not enjoyable at all. When I had to walk back and forth from the festival, there were no shuttles to be seen. SUCKS.

WOMAN USING MEN'S TOILETS at the Pittsburg Seafood Festival. There were several bathroom facilities and each of them had a huge sign that said ...WOMEN ONLY. What the hell is going on here? Of course, we had the porta potties and you know what? They were pretty clean all day. Wouldn't that make you wonder exactly who is messing them up if most of the ladies are using the bathroom facilties? That's a crock of U-know what! They were being allowed to use the men's room also. What the hell....so are they sticking their butts inside the urinals... or are they standing in front and well...you know?

Trying to drive around the town was a nightmare. Construction, detours..can't go this way, can't go that way. Oh gosh. Pittsburg is a mess I don't know what they are doing, but it's a #(#*$# MESS!!

Sunday, Sept 7. A bit cooler and sales were somehat better. However, booth fees were $300 and this just aint going to make it. We determined that this is a $150 show at most. Crowd seemed to be a little less than Saturday, despite the cooler (91 degrees) weather. Good event if you are attending it. Air show at 3:00 and boat races. However, stinkarooski if you are a vendor. Just nothing more than window dressing, as thousands of people just pass by with nary a look.

The show ended at 6:00 and I imagine everybody was anxious to get out of there, I went to my van around 5:45 and parked in line at the far end of the event, preparing to come in. I was third in line and it wasn't long before there were several dozen vehicles behind me. They kept B.S. ing us about when we could get in....10 more minutes...5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc. and we finally got in just before 7:00. That's a crock of baloney because it would be getting dark again and didn't want to end up loading in the dark again like we were forced to do at the Hayward Zucchini festival a couple weeks earlier.

We loaded up quickly, as we had just about everything packed up and ready to load. As we were doing so, I noticed a long, long, long line of cars waiting to get in. It looked like they were going to be there for hours to come. We left around 7:30 and zig-zagged our way the decrepit downtown areas of Pittsburg. What a mess...construction and detours all over the place; stores closed for good, boarded up, broken windows. What a beautiful city these people have. Downtown area looks like hell. This is not a show I would recommend doing the Pittsburg Seafood Festival unless they lowered the fees to $50. Solly!!!

Your Daily Dose

This is a new feature on my website, Starving Vendors and each day I add my comments about shows, vendors, things, thangs, etc. Today's entry:

September 5. Seems a bit cooler today, but it's going to be hot in Pittsburg this afternoon for setup.I have added a number of 'defunct' events on the Do you Remember page of this website. Makes interesting reading and sentimental value.I came across an old show publication, Calendar of Events and began looking through it. I also had a number of older publications from the mid 90's... The Show Locator, Hands on Guide and The Crafts Fair Guide. Quite interesting looking through them as I was able to see a lot of shows we did and didn't do back then.

Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich

I'm always looking for the great Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich. During my early years, living in Hamilton, New Jersey from 1963-1970 I must have eaten a zillion of these. Back then I probably didn't appreciate just how good these things are. I remember eating them with birch beer, sometimes draught and that was a great combination.A number of years ago, while at the World Famous Farmer's Market, located at 3rd and Fairfax in Los Angeles, I found a sandwich stand which made a pretty good Philly Cheese Steak. Up until a few year ago, I considered this to be the best I had ever had.

While visiting relatives in Pennsylvania a few years back, I had the pleasure of eating a really great sandwich. It was huge....lots of steak (probably rib-eye) with plenty of cheese packed into a roll and absolutely smothered and overflowing with delicious peppers and onions. It was really great and I can not find anything here on the West Coast that compares with it. I've tried places like the Cheese Steak Shop and they are somewhat okay, but can not compare. I've had many steak sandwiches at fairs and festivals we have done, but nowhere near. The best Philly I have had at a festival are the ones at the Coos County Fair in Myrtle Point, OR. I usually have a couple during our yearly summer stay there. They are good, but just do not compare.

Please check out my website to find out how to make these delicious sandwiches or where you can buy one. http://www.starvingvendors.com/philly_cheese_steak_sandwich.html

Orinda Holiday Bazaar (Nov 1-2)

Just did a Google search on the "Orinda Holiday Bazaar" and I found a couple interesting links to this event, held during the first weekend in November. Check it out. One is my review about the show from last year.

And another link leading to Craig's List "Vendors wanted for 33rd Annual Orinda Holiday Bazaar (Orinda Community Center)'. Actually, I find that rather humorous and if you read my review you'll see why it is so hard to get vendors for this event. I do not want to pick on the promoters of this event... they try so hard and do a wonderful job. However, the problem is the people. The one's that go to the event and the one's that DON'T GO TO THE EVENT.

They really didn't turn out for the Orinda Holiday Bazaar .... and you can read my review to see what I think happened to them... and the ones that do come, DO NOT BUY. I think that this event has seen better days. A great idea but it just isn't going to work out. Vendors have an extremely hard time setting up because no matter where your booth is..inside or outside, you are going to have to carry your things up stairs and for the amount of money that we made last year, there is just no freaking way I will do that. I am sure that this event brings in money for various local organizations and if they don't get the funding they need, they can point their fingers at the local community, who do not come to the Orinda Holiday Bazaar and ran away many vendors by not buying their merchandise.

I have several friends (vendors) who definitely will never go back there and I know that there were vendors who 'zeroed out'...meaning they made $0.00. There were 'spurts' of people coming to the event, but they bought very little and took up space (and air) as they came there just to socialize. However, I will agree that some of the success of an event, does depend upon people meeting one another, etc. and having a good time. But people, if you don't buy from the vendors, you local non-profit agenices, etc., are going to suffer because vendors will not come back.

There are a number of community things happening here and there are a number of crafters who purchase a smaller space indoors and sell what they have made and that is probably fine. However, 'professional' vendors (ones who require a canopy and sell many things at a different show every weekend) can not expect to do well here. Nice library next door and it seems like half the people have a book in their hand or are on their way to drop their kids off for soccer practice. You just have to read my review on this!!!! To the community of Orinda... you people have nice houses, good jobs but you are too damm cheap and stingy and just do not deserve to have such an event as the Orinda Holiday Bazaar.

So, they are looking for vendors and if you sign up for it, it's just like making a contribution to a charity. You won't make any money. Only thing I can blame on the promoters is their selection of music. Frank Sinatra music being piped all over the place is not energetic, buying-type music. Puts people (and vendors) to sleep. If I want to listen to Frank Sinatra, then I'll turn to Channel 11 and watch America's Got Talent, ya know? There's a nice older fellow who can really sing and sounds pretty much like him.