Are Craft Fairs Dead?
Well gearing up for the new season. Actually not starting till the end of March this year, much later than normal. To be honest we made a loss at all the early shows last year, no-one seemed to be interested in buying anything before Easter, maybe they were still paying off their credit cards from Christmas!!!!
Year on year both attendance and taking at Craft Shows seems to have done down and down: There are some very obvious reasons for this:
1. There is now much more happening at the weekends, especially on Sundays. When I started there were no car boot sales and very little Sunday trading.
2. Some now seem to think that Craft Fairs are old fashioned or that they only sell pots of Jams and doilies 
3. People object to paying an entrence fee…”why should we pay to shop”
I’m not sure what the answer is: for me a shall be doing more “other” types of shows this year, festivals, garden show with craft marquees etc.
Whatever it will be another hard year on the craft circuit I think.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Hey- you might be on to something but the world of crafts is bigger than ever. If you want some moral support, check out the newly revised 2nd edition of CRAFTS AND CRAFTS SHOW: How to Make Money by Phil Kadubec 2nd Edition. You can read more about it at www.allworth.com.
Enjoy!
Nana
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Interests in crafts is definitely growing but so is the competition and the number of people/businesses who want to make a living out of doing something they enjoy.
January 21st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Stumbled on your blog and it was really nice to read about your crafts shows over there in the U.K.
I am in Pennsylvania, USA.
Seems like we are all struggling with all the imported “made
in China” crap getting into shows, as well as direct sellers from
large MLM companies.
Please come over and check out my Blog, called CRAFTER BS.
It’s the highs, the lows, and “oh those craft shows” blog and the
BS we are confronted with owning a craft business.
http://www.crafterbs.blogspot.com/
Theresa