Market Days
December 4 and 5, 2010
Tallahassee, Florida
Market Days is an annual show held at the fairgrounds in Tallahassee, Florida. Artists are set in fourbuildings that line the road in and out of the fairgrounds. Thereare additional booths between the buildings in the median. Theirwebsite (www.marketdays.org)advertises approximately 300 artists with 15,000 people inattendance. However, paperwork delivered to the artists for nextyear noted 20 – 24,000 people in attendance annually. The weatherwas nice both days. A little cool in the morning but in the upper60's in the afternoon.
Most items were hand made by artists exhibiting. Of course there was some buy and sell, and then therewas an imported metal booth that covered approximately 10-12 10*10booth spaces; they did tell folks that they bought the items forresale.
Saturday was crowded by most show's standards. It was approximately 10-12 feet across the isle and manytimes it was impossible to walk across from booth to booth due to thecrowd. While there was plenty of people, they appeared to be goingfor lower end items. The mustard and soup mix ladies next to me hada booming day. Unfortunately, Sunday was dead. Even the niceweather could not bring out the buyers. 80% of my business onSaturday with sporadic sales on Sunday. All of my sales except onewas under $50, and I had one sale that was over that amount.
Fellow artists I spoke with didn't have much good things to say about sales, however, I spoke with severalthat did very well with their Christmas and under $20 items. Thebooth fee was $450 and I did ok. It's an easy show to do and I gotto visit with my friends that drove down from Atlanta for theweekend. Plus I found a nice gift for my lovely wife.
The folks running the show do a great job. They are friendly, constantly checked in to see if Ineeded anything, had coffee and donuts all day. Additionally, I hadfour of the main show staff including the director to spend timetalking with me and thanking me to be there. I just can't say enoughabout them They really make an artist feel special.
Comments
My sales were quite good on Saturday, and though Sunday was a bit slower it was a great show for me selling items mostly in the $75 - $100 range. I spoke with exhibitors on their 8th year, so it must be worthwhile in the long run. Without question I'll return. I appreciated the strokes -- frequent visits by staff, all-day coffee and doughnuts. Though cool, the inside booth is a distinct advantage in planning a December show.
Show people made you feel great about the experience. Have plans to do again next year.