More bad news on 14th Annual Fil-Am Fesitval in Daly City

I was going to leave this topic alone because it's over and done with. But I really do not like the way one of the promoter lady's (the same white lady that was somewhat abusive toward me on Saturday) handled a situation terribly with another vendor and I was just made aware of this confrontation tonight. This show has problems, people.

My friend was located on the far side of the event and the 'workers' had placed one of the covers between his space and his neighbor. The cover was flapping consistently back and forth into his booth from the wind and created a bad atmosphere for this gentleman and his mother. He mentioned this to the lady, who's blunt reply was, "You will just have to deal with it." Now what kind of response is this!! This person was also told that the canopies would be better secured at night (because wind gusts almost toppled a couple areas), but they never were. Come to think of it, I was told the same thing, but I left on Saturday because we display was all screwed up because of the winds and because there was no security.

Please read previous entries I made regarding this event. http://thisaintparadise.blogspot.com/search/label/Daly%20CIty%20Fil-Am%20Festival

Now, I do not know this lady's name and I don't really care, but I am telling of our experiences and I want to make a point and give some advice. I was going to let this go, but I am rather perturbed over this. This is a Filipino event and I have had great success in my dealings with this fine organization. They are so nice and very cordial. But then you have these two white lady's walking around with frowns on their faces so tense, that I am afraid that their faces would crack if they tried to smile. I am white, myself, but if people of my color are going to act like that, then they should just stay away and let the Filipino's take charge. You should be ashamed talking to people so bluntly.

My advice for the show? You already can figure my first idea. Yah. I'm not returning, so do what you want next year. Also, my booth was situated far off in the distance amongst non-profit organizations and did not draw the traffic flow that some other people did. If you weren't interested in hospital plans, etc., then you never made it over to my spot. I am retail...I was the only retail in that entire row. Retail/commercial/arts & crafts vendors should be clustered in one section where people could shop. Also, you could demonstrate your concern for the vendors by then providing security for us. You charge each vendor $10-$20 for the security or whatever and also, allow the vendors to use their own canopies and setups instead of forcing them to use canopies which somebody is making a hefty, sneaky profit on.

That's all I have to say about this show and I do not expect to hear of any more problems experienced by my fellow vendors at this event. However, if I do....you will definitely be the third person to know.

Gas Prices decline

Just drove by my local Chevron station (Southland Mall-Hayward) yesterday and saw that the price had dropped 4 cents from $4.61 to $4.57. I remember the last time I saw it drop was a few months ago and a couple days after it went lower, it went up and up and up and up. Stay tuned. The price of a barrel of oil dropped, but we are starting to have more turmoil in Iran, so they say that prices could skyrocket.

Refilling ink cartridges

I just had a couple of my cartridges (black $10, color $15) refilled at Walgreens and would like to hear from anybody who has had this done. How long can I expect the ink in these cartridges to last? I've heard a lot about buying your own 'kit' and filling the cartridges myself, but I don't know how complicated it could be.

Did I get a decent deal on my refills? Is there anyplace that does them cheaper? I'd like to hear about your experiences, good or bad with refills. I am sick and tired of paying full price for brand new cartridges at places like Office Depot. Just can't afford it.

Chime in people.

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.

Vendors' Comments

Hi Vendors. Thank you for visiting this blog. I would appreciate if some of you could comment on events you have done or just gone to. Russell City Blues coming up in Hayward; Cornfest in Brentwood. How about your July 4th shows. There were lots of them all over the place. Sales up? Sales down? Buying crowds? I would like to also post your comments on my Starving Vendors website. If your show was bad, tell me why. Ditto for the good. Need your comments.

What your 'oil money' has bought them!

Each week I will be posting pictures of Dubai, the city that we have paid for with our oil money!!

Mt. Shasta 4th of July Celebration

Sunday ended up being quite slow. Very few people showed up and vendors were sitting around with empty booths and poor sales. Don't know what you could do to bring people in. I guess everybody came around on Friday (the 4th). The main street booths were set up on Saturday morning and I imagine that people came over to see them; perhaps many returning from Friday and we did get a 'trickle' over.

Not too many tourists over the weekend and we all know why. In case you are interested, gas prices in and around town were approximately $4.67 per gallon.

Sunday seemed like a completely different show. Temperatures are beginning to warm up in the area and on Sunday, it was probably in the low-mid 90's. Expected temperatures on Tues/Wed....107 degrees- a real scorcher. Glad to be out of there that. I don't want any part of that!! Last year it got up to 110 degrees, but I guess the people in this area are used to it.

There's a lot of people who have re-located to this area and I suppose that life is a lot more pleasant, healthier, etc., than in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I just don't know about that hot weather in the summer and of course, the snow and cold in the winter. They have four seasons up here and I am sure that it is very beautiful during the winter. But it's not for me. I'll just stick it out in the Bay Area for a few more years and probably head up to Oregon, where it's not so expensive. Still looking for paradise... it's not here... be we are getting closer!!!

We've all gone to Vegas, of course and had to deal with the high temperatures there. But you are indoors most of the time but when you walk outside, a blast-furnace of hot air hits you in the face. I can not understand why somebody would move to a place like Lake Havasu and deal with those 115-120 degree temperatures. For snow-birds that would be nice for them during the winter, but summertime? You can have it.

Food Festivals in California

Ran across this website that lists a large number of food festivals in California. Whether you are a vendor or you just enjoy going to these type of festivals, then you will just love browsing through the listings.

California Food Festivals, Food Shows, Food & Wine Events, etc

Saturday in Shasta.

Today was the second day of the festival and it seemed like a completely different show. Of crowds were much less than yesterday and we had the addition of some 40 booths on the main street. Foot traffic on Castle St. was sporadic and the 'dynamics' of this event had changed. Temperatures are heading up faster than the gas prices as it was around 93 degrees today, but the cloud cover probably spared us a few degrees.

On Sunday, temps are supposed to be around 99 and we'll be heading home during the early evening. Going to be a scorcher on Tuesday and Wednesday, with expected high temps of 107. Ouch. Thank gosh we missed that by a few days.

Mt. Shasta City 4th of July Celebration

Very nice event. We arrived Thursday afternoon and set up most of our booth. The weather was great, but a little hazy from all the smoke. Temps were in the mid -80's and quite comfortable. We spent the night at a local motel and then returned to our booth around 5:30AM on Friday morning.

We were ready for everybody at 7:00, as were just about all the other vendors, expecting a large crowd from the run/walk event scheduled around 8:00. Quite a difference from last year, when temps soared to 110 degrees.

Attendence was very good today, as they started the day off with the walk/run and then had their parade. I believe that today's crowd was mostly 'locals' and there weren't too many tourists. I checked outside my motel and the parking lot outside my room is virtually empty. Maybe they have heard exagerrations of the fires up here, which are some distance away.

People...it's a beautiful weekend here in Mt Shasta City and temps are only in the mid-80's. Very nice breezed. So, come on down or up to the celebration which runs through Sunday. Many vendors over the next two days. Come on over and see us on Castle St. (D and L CREATIONS) and buy one of our popular shoulder/sling bags

Gas holding steady

Last price rise for our Chevron station came on June 11, when it rose to $4.61. So, that makes it three weeks since it budged. Calm before the storm? You guys ready for 'European style gas prices?' Price per barrel reached record highs (again) today and I guess it's just a matter of time before U-know-what happens.

Good luck people. Have a nice July 4th weekend.

How about a Betty Boop T-shirt?

We sell Betty Boop T-shirts at our events and also on our website Prices start at $12.95 for medium, $13.95 for L and $14.95 for XL. Secure on-line ordering with no hassles. Pay with credit cards, PayPal or you can mail a check.

Check out our other products on the website...custom-sized, hand-made shell and semi-precious necklaces, wrap-around skirts and more.