Search Results for: vendor fair

Scrapping the State Fair

Last week we took our annual summer trip to the State Fair. We gorged on crazy deep-fried food-on-a-stick creations, rode the Sky Glider and learned exactly how a pig pees. Interesting stuff. I have way more than enough photos and memorabilia to craft an entire memory book of our family trip. I also jotted down some funny anecdotes for journaling purposes and scored some cool stickers from various vendors to add as embellishments. In between the grazing and game-playing, we spent a fair amount of time exploring the animal exhibits, and even witnessed a doggie wedding presided over by an … Continue reading →

Selling Your Work at Art Fairs and Craft Shows

If you are an artist or a crafter, you just might have the main ingredient for a successful home-based business. The things that you create are unique and beautiful, and there are many people out there that would love to purchase them so that they can enjoy them. Art and craft fairs and shows are a great way for home-based artists and crafters to show their works to a large audience, an audience that comes to the fairs and shows in search of that something special. One great thing about being an artist of crafter and selling your work at … Continue reading →

Staying On Atkins at the Renaissance Faire

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Staying on the Atkins diet is much easier when you are eating at home. It can be a bit of a challenge if you are attending a Summer festival. My family likes to visit the local Renaissance Faire when it comes to town. What on earth would I be able to eat there, without cheating on my diet? One of the events I look forward to every Summer is a visit to the Renaissance Faire. The one closest to where I live now, in California, appears briefly, for just one particular weekend. In Wisconsin, there is the Bristol Renaissance Faire, … Continue reading →

Watch Out for Food Allergies at Summer Fairs

My friend who has celiac disease will be joining me at a craft fair this weekend — and I’m concerned that he may have a hard time finding something safe to eat. Fairs, picnics, ball games, barbeques, and other summer gatherings can be a tough place for people with food allergies. It may not be possible to get an ingredients list from a fair vendor. Often, the food may be prepared off-site by someone other than the folks working the stand. If you’re especially sensitive, there may be issues of cross-contamination — a “safe” item may become unsafe if cooked … Continue reading →

Questioning a Vendor’s Credibility

None of us likes to have our credibility called into question. In fact, this is one of the reasons that I stress the importance of operating your business with honesty and integrity. People may decide that they do not want to do business with you for a variety of reasons, but I think that some reasons are better than others. If someone things that you are dishonest or incapable of doing a decent job—that is quite different from deciding your prices are too high or that you just don’t offer the services they are looking for. As business owners, we … Continue reading →

Eating Healthy At The State Fair—It Can Be Done

I know what you are thinking… Is it possible to eat healthy at a place where just about everything is deep-fried and impaled with a stick? Moreover, does anyone try to eat healthy at a local fair? I know I don’t. But then there are people like my friend (and running partner) Kim who do. Recently I detailed my adventures at our local fair and listed all of the tantalizing on-a-stick-creations my daughter and I gorged on during our time there. Kim attended the same State Fair with her kids and she left without ever wrapping her lips around a … Continue reading →

Family Fun At The State Fair—A Day Of Pig Races And Deep Fried Pickles

There aren’t too many places on the planet where you can watch a retired NASCAR announcer provide color commentary on a race between four pot-bellied pigs speeding around a sawdust track, and then 2 hours later gnaw unforgivably on a deep fried pork chop-on-a-stick. It happens daily at the Wisconsin State Fair. The annual 10-day event is famous around these parts for deep-fried everything, food-on-a-stick, a giant slide and world-class agricultural venues. What more could you ask for, right? That was my thought when I decided to brave the crowds (more than 800,000 descend on State Fair Park in Milwaukee … Continue reading →

Planning to Homeschool in the Fall? Attend a Fair!

In case you have not noticed, I have spent the first part of the summer compiling lists of all the different curriculums available to homeschoolers, including books parents should read, and am currently working on a list of online homeschool programs. I plan to list homeschool classes in your neck of the woods as well. The reason I am doing this is because I realize that thousands, and possibly even tens of thousands of new families have decided that they will begin homeschooling in the fall. I want you to be prepared. In addition to pouring over the hundreds of … Continue reading →

Fairs, Events and Expos, Oh My!

In my previous post, “Don’t just sit there…stand there. A simple tip for events & expos” I discussed one of the biggest mistakes I made while promoting my home-based direct selling business at fairs and expos. I would like to use this opportunity to tell you about my second biggest mistake (with hopes that you will learn from it, of course). When I was struggling with getting party bookings at vendor events, one of my direct sales managers suggested that I gather information about potential customers, prospects and hostesses by using a give-away. In a nutshell, I created drawing slips … Continue reading →

Working Vendor Events

I did my last vendor event yesterday and found myself thinking “I need to be a little more picky on what events I do.” So I thought I’d come up with a list of things to look for in an event that we all can learn from: 1.) How many years has this event been in place? (If it is an annual event, often the attendance will be stronger. People are creatures of habit and will often wait to shop at their favorite event.) 2.) What has the attendance been like in the past? (If last year they had 20 … Continue reading →