This weekend I did my first fall festival/art fair. We set up our new Caravan Display shade (for only the second time and the first with my home made panels included), added PVC pipe weights at all four corners, cross tied it from the top front to bottom back corners and vice versa, and then put the side walls on. (In the future I will cross tie outside the side walls but more on that later.) We were ready for business and didn’t noticeably forget anything that we needed.
The first three hours were full of lookers, but no buyers. Then the buyers got there and we made about four times our booth fee on the first day (small festival and low booth fees as a learning event). At the end of the day we happily put up our fourth wall, made our security system out of the stuff that hadn’t been in our tent all day, and drove home.
Today was the second day and the weather was predicted to be awful…rain and 40mph gusts. When we got to the show we opened the booth and tightened all the lines and thought we were in pretty good shape. Two hours into the show a tent that was five spaces away was destroyed (a cheap one). The organizers moved two more and a third one took her tent down and sold her stuff under a cloudy sky. The three of us left in my row tightened our ropes again and said a little prayer. I rescued the tent next to me three times as it began to blow away (no weights) and had to re-attach my sidewalls at the front corners where they came away from the posts when the booth inflated like a sail. (Again, next time I will cross tie outside the sidewalls to slow the billowing.)
I didn’t sell a thing today because of limited people and nasty winds, but I didn’t lose anything either. The whole show closed down about an hour early when the forecast started calling for heavier winds and lightning to be there in about 30 minutes. We got our tent down quickly and left before it got worse. All in all, it wasn’t a bad weekend. I made a little money and learned a lot of lessons. I honestly want to say thank you to everyone here who speaks up. I learned a lot of what to do by reading these posts and following your advice. Now to tweak the systems and prepare for the spring…I see a winter of buying dog tie out stakes, new print racks, and slightly shorter display panels.
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Congratulations on getting through (and surviving) your first show AND makind a little bit of profit :) Sounds like you will be successful in the long run!
I have just finished my first season with Eaton canopy weights (CanopyWeights.com) and I am very pleased. Previously I was using large water bottles tied to the top bar of the tent. They always worked well for me but they looked awful and took up a lot of room when booth spaces were exactly 10' x 10'.
Thanks for the encouragement. I use PVC pipe weights that hang from the top of the tent so that they take up 2-4 inches of my space depending on exactly where and how I hang them. If I tie them right, they are directly behind my first panel so they don't take a lot of space. My next big task is to figure out how to keep the tent walls from blowing so much and making the velcro let go. I think that perhaps the cross ties on the inside and outside of the tent may solve some of that.
Weights at the Bottom, near the feet, all four corners, stay bars -to keep the wind from collapsing your tent legs inward, heavy duty dog stakes, and ratcheting tie downs, and cross ties inside and outside. All key elements in stabilizing the tent. The things are like sails in heavy gusts, in very WINDY conditions they can become inflated balloons, and take right off! You learned a few key lessons, and paid attention...good for you!!
I still learn something new every show. Like Richard, I take notes in a notebook, keep a packing list on the computer, that I update frequently, and try to use the exact same pack/load system religiously.If I don't, then that's where the problems arise!!
Find your system, develop a rhythm, and practice til it's second nature. Good planning, preparation, and organization will be tremendous help to you in this biz!!
Good luck, enjoy the adventure, and always keep learning!!
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I didn't have as many cross ties as you suggest, the stabars, or the dog stakes. I did, however have cross ties and weights and did NOT go airborne myself. I was pleased with my tent and the set up, but there are things to tweak.
Now that you have your first show under your belt you will be ready for the next one. There is so much to learn and some people think this is an easy way to make a living but it is tough.
Do you have any more shows planned for this year?
We saw some people this weekend who learned the hard way that it isn't easy. I don't know if they were new to the business, but they sure gambled on a tailgating tent holding up to the winds we faced.
I had the chances at some more small shows this year that would have been pretty simple to get into but I decided to do this one and take lots of notes about what to do differently or better for my next one. I learned a lot and can see some changes that will immediately make thinks look and work better next year. I have a few months now to tweak things instead of just a couple of weeks so it will be a bit less stressful...I hope.
This was a very small fair in Harrodsburg, KY. I think we had 19 assorted artists, two food booths, a children's activity booth, two inflatables, and a pony ride with only one pony. It was a fun group of folks though...when we weren't trying to hold our tents down or rushing to catch a neighbor's tent that started to go airborne.