I did it! This weekend I participated in my very first craft show, the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters Festival in Kitchener, Ontario. I wasn't sure how I would like doing shows, but I'm pretty gregarious and really enjoyed the process of talking to people and trying to convince them that "you don't really need a shawl to wear a shawl pin. It can be a brooch, or a scarf pin or".....you get the idea. I sold about $900 worth of pins, a bit jewelry and a handful of buttons, so after a booth fee of $200 and $75 for liability insurance (
required by the show), I ended up with over $600. I think that's pretty good given the low cost of the items I'm selling.
There were a few glitches. After all that work to build my own tables and make custom coverings for them, I wasn't allowed to use them. The venue made me use their tables and their fire-resistant table drapes. Apparently the fire marshal is quite strict. And then my credit card reader that fits on my iPhone wouldn't read cards. It had worked fine when I tested it at home. Fortunately people were very nice about paying with cash and I don't think I lost any sales.
Next I will do the Woodstock Fleece Festival in October.
