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

Lockeford Sausages

LOCKEFORD SAUSAGE. Ripon Almond Blossom Festival is coming up and two things I will miss over there (not selling there this year) are my friends and the Bratwurst Sausages. I guess that we run into them maybe 5-6 times during the year at a numbe of events we do. Went out to Food Maxx last week and picked up some Bratwurts along with onions and 'kraut. Also got some French rolls, but they are way too small. Ate one for lunch today but nowhere's near as good as the ones that we get at the shows. Lockeford must have the best sausages at any show. Huge Brat with loads of kraut and onions overflowing. Mmmmm. Delicious.

The first time I ever had a Lockeford Sausage was at a street festival we did over there about a dozen years ago. They also had a 'company' store there on the main street where you could buy sausages.

Lockeford Meat & Sausage Service(209) 727-5584 19775 N Cotton St, Lockeford, CA 95237

For more info on events, vendors, etc. please check out Starving Vendors

Ripon Almond Blossom Festival weather report.

RAINS FORECAST FOR 2009 RIPON ALMOND BLOSSOM FESTIVAL. It looks like this is going to be a weekend of rain again for many vendors. Weather.com shows rain on Fri-Sat-Sun. I think that you had better read AccuWeather's forecast, which sounds better. No rain Friday; cooler and periods of rain on Saturday; and it's Bye-Bye Balboni on Sunday. There's Weather Underground to check also, but their forecasts are only five days ahead. DISCLAIMER: Of course, nobody is crazy enough to actually believe that these long range forecasts are accurate. They are for amusement purposes only!!!

Be sure to read my review from last year's event. You'll love it.

Dates for 2009: Feb 27-28 and March 1.

THE ANNUAL BLOSSOM FESTIVAL & CARNIVAL HOURS ARE:

Thursday, February 26, 2009 - 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm (Carnival Only)
Friday, February 27, 2009 - 12:00pm - 9:00pm
Saturday February 28, 2009 - 10:00am - 9:00pm
Sunday, March 1, 2009 - 10:00am - 5:00pm

Tough times - the life of a vendor.

Here's something you might enjoy reading. I just wrote it this morning. I really don't think anybody knows how tough it is for 'vendors, etc.' to be doing all these shows day after day, week after week.

It's a crazy lifestyle doing these events. Sometimes you go bananas when there's a lot of people at a show and nobody is buying. But if you are sitting around in your house, you find yourself 'craving for the action.' You feel like you 'have to' do a particular event even if you know that you might do poorly. Just to be out there around people and trying to sell your things. The 'dreams' of making a couple grand on any given day. You're excited when you see the beautiful weather and it energizes you and you think that you are going to make 'the big bucks'. It's like you've got it in your blood. I love the blue skies, the green money, Benjamin Franklin ($100 bills), the huge crowds (that used to be) gathering around our booths. But it's agonizing when you have so many people, but they are just walking around like stinking zombies.

You meet each and every event with new enthusiasm, thinking that this is going to be THE day. Then you get the sprinkles of rain and the cold gusts of wind blowing in your face. Reality. You approach your other vendor friends and see that they are not getting very many sales that day also. You look farther down and you see that people are buying another vendor's products left and right and that drives you up the wall and you begin to wonder what you are doing wrong. 'Stick with my products or go out and find something new' you say to yourself. Even though nothing is really wrong at times, you drive yourself bonkers trying to think of what to do and then begin cussing yourself out for paying so much for that particular event.

There was a day that whenever you paid a higher booth fee, you usually ended up with a nice space and a load of people. Not anymore. Even the best of shows have gone downhill because the people just are not buying like they did several years ago for a variety of reasons and of course, the promoters keep jacking up their fees and finding ways to extract more money from you by adding on extra fees. How about a $2.00 surtax for ass-wipes. It's like a roller-coaster ride. There's more vendors at a lot of these shows because people seem to think that they can make a quick buck selling anything and everything at these events. So they go out and get a bunch of socks, sunglasses, etc. and set up. People like you and me used to get by and not have to do a show every weekend. Now with profit margins so low, we are forced to do more events trying to make the same kind of money as before to make ends meet. It can be a dog-eat-dog kind of life out there in the streets.

Stop by and read my website, Starving Vendors. I have loads of information on here and you can read reviews on shows we have done over the years and see what it's like. I'd recommend that you start with Your Daily Dose

Facebook could raise health problems

Facebook 'could raise cancer risk' Social networking sites such as Facebook could increase the risk of health problems such as cancer, strokes, heart disease, and dementia, a doctor has claimed.

Such popular sites, also including the likes of MySpace and Twitter, are putting users in danger by reducing levels of face-to-face contact, according to psychologist Dr Aric Sigman.
He believes this could have biological effects, altering the way genes work, and upsetting immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries.

Dr Sigman spells out his warning in the latest issue of Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology. He maintains that social networking sites have played a significant role in people becoming more isolated. He said: "Social networking is the internet's biggest growth area, particular among young children. "A quarter of British children have a laptop or computer in their room by the age of five and they have their own social networking sites, like the BBC's myCBBC. It's causing huge changes."

click here to continue article

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.

Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival - April 25-26

The city of Cupertino will be hosting it's annual Cherry Blossom Festival on April 25-26 at Memorial Park. This event draws large crowds and is promoted by Festival Productions and you can go to their website for an application (vendors).

We participated in the event last year and here is my review.

Great weather. However, there were noticably fewer attendee's than previous years. Entertainment was okay and the people came to hear and see them play the large drums, which is one of the highlights of this event.

Majority of the food booths was volunteers and served up various Japanese foods, in line with the theme of the festival. However, there was a smoothie booth there and their drinks were sensational. I had a pina colada smoothie and I wish I would have brought a small bottle of rum with me. Very refreshing. I've seen quite a number of refreshment booths and this one is excellent.

click here to read more

Patterson Apricot Fiesta - May 30-31, 2009

The 2009 Patterson Apricot Fiesta will be held on May 30-31, 2009. click here for application

Here is our review of the 2008 event:

Very nice weather this time with temps in the low 80's and a very pleasant breeze. It is usually much hotter this time of year. We have had temps in the 100's most of the year's we did the event. Decent crowds on Saturday; substantially lower on Sunday. Many vendors did pretty decent on Saturday and darn lousy on Sunday. The Chamber of Commerce needs to listen to the vendors. They moved a huge number of vendors to an adjacent street and sales were down for all of them and it was difficult for our returning customers.

to read more, please click here

Ceres Street Fair - Ceres, CA May 3-4, 2009

The Ceres Street Fair is coming up on May 2-3, 2009. Ceres Chamber of Commerce Contact them if you are interested in being a vendor.

Read our review of last year's event:

This is a small-town street fair that draws good-sized crowds from surrounding towns. Perhaps in the 30-40,000 range. I really praise the promoters of this event. This is a very smooth-running event which is always enjoyable to do. It was a little warm over the weekend and somewhat breezy at times. However, over the years, we have had temps up around 100 and super-hot; have had rain and even a Sunday completely rained out a couple years ago.

click here to read more

Up Against Wal-Mart

At the world's largest and most profitable retailer, low wages, unpaid overtime, and union busting are a way of life. Now Wal-Mart workers are fighting back

I ran across this website which tells a lot about life at a Wal-Mart and is several years old. However, I find it very interesting and it gives a lot of insight into the many problems this retailer giant causes. I am sure that very little has changed there over the years. Shoppers just look the other way, knowing very well that the workers are not unionized, payed low wages and have few benefits, if any. Many comments by workers, etc. You know, I cringe whenever I see a new Wal-mart going up because it affects smaller businesses that can not compete and have to close as a result and people lose their jobs. I know that it's very hard not to shop at Wal-Mart because they undercut any competition, but gosh, people actually lose their jobs because of them. I know that this nation has bigger problems with major corporations going under. banks closing, losing investments, etc. and maybe people are just glad to have a job. I guess it's like a double-edged sword?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2003/03/against-wal-mart

Casinos warned: An iPhone application created to count cards

Casinos warned: An iPhone app created to count cards

LAS VEGAS — Nevada gambling regulators have warned casinos about a card-counting program for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch that can illegally help players beat the house in blackjack

Next time you want to hit the blackjack tables in Vegas you may want to check your iPhone is off and out of site before some burly bouncer throws you out on the Strip, or worse confiscates your trendy $300 Smartphone. Turns out the gig is up for those that used a special program that illegally worked out how to count cards.

Counting-cards, a technique used to predict the value of the card using probabilities, is not illegal in Nevada when using the old gray matter between your ears, however using a program, or any device used to record the cards or predict the value of the next card is. click here to read story

Starving Vendors website

Enjoy reading PAGE ONE stories on Starving Vendors. Popular website has reviews of events we have done the past couple years and you will find some of them hilarillous and all true to the point.

Read such articles as:
James Bond phone-watch to hit UK this year...... Pair arrested for eating iguana on Facebook...
Woman breaks world's longest fingernails in car crash...... Michael Jackson Suffering From Flesh-Eating Disease?.... and a lot more.

Many other interesting features. You'll love it. Check out Your Daily Dose, a daily journal of information and events.