After months of stewing, I finally screwed up my courage enough to enter my first craft show. I picked a small, local one called the Bellefonte Arts Festival. It took me a month to prepare. As the day approached, I camped out in my studio, frantically putting together earrings, printing out display signs, and getting my cash box together.
Here are some pictures of my booth:
Buying the tent was much more of a chore than it should have been. I did not want to spend a lot of money for my first show, but the cheap tents had legs that splayed outward which I thought would trip people so I settled on a $100 tent with a brown top and straight legs that took the most efficient use of my 10’x10′ space. I borrowed folding tables from friends and relatives and purchased inexpensive brown burlap fabric to drape over them.
I bought several rotating necklace display stands from Oriental Trading Company and raided my basement for wicker baskets and my sideboard for wood trays and dishes. A borrowed metal holiday ornament tree held my bracelets. I thought my display looked pretty good for a first timer.
The show wasn’t very heavily attended but a nice little stream of customers walked past my tent and enough of them popped in and complimented my work and even bought things that I felt the show was a success.