Vending at a Street Fair

This weekend, I attempted my first ever street fair, and I am happy to say it was a surprising success! I confess, I underestimated the literary interest of the audience to which I was selling, which made what was essentially a single-day event (the three hours Friday evening were largely rained out) somewhat profitable. But, in addition to the reading public, I attribute this success to the lessons learned and applied from my previous events, namely:

• A very visible adjustable length sign marking my booth
• A card reader that enabled me to take non-cash payments
• Display racks for books and posters that made my products more visible and attractively arranged
• Perhaps most importantly, a hand cart with wheels large enough to absorb the impact of rolling over uneven ground and sidewalks

All of these factors contributed to making my presentation smoother and more professional in appearance. This was also the first time I offered poster prints for sale at my booth, though they did not attract much interest for reasons I shall go into later. That said, I made a few additional observations during this event that could contribute to making future events even more successful. I will now share those observations with you, in the hope that they might benefit you in your endeavors, should you find yourself at an outdoor event.

Weather

Weather is obviously the main enemy at any outdoor event. In particular, there are three main foes to watch out for from a book dealer’s perspective:

• Precipitation
• Wind
• Sun

My first evening at Carry Nation Days saw anything from light to medium rainfall for the majority of my time there, thus reducing the crowds. And of course this is doubly bad for anyone selling products that are primarily paper, as a single drop of water can cause irksome damage. Fortunately my posters were all in protective sleeves. However, overall the dampness had the effect of decreasing the amount of time with my products were on display, since the tent canopy I was using had several minute holes that led to occasional drips on my table! While there is nothing to be done to prevent it from raining, you can at least mitigate the problems I had by 1) having a higher quality tent that doesn’t leak–the one I was using is about 10 years old and pretty cheaply made–and 2) having side flaps that prevent a driving rain from getting in. Fortunately there was no wind with the rain this time, but that’s not something to gamble on in future.

The next day when the sky ranged from overcast to outright sunny, but there were issues: wind and sun. While not incredibly windy, a light breeze can be enough to mess up a display that consists of largely paper products, as I discovered to my detriment at first. My tent legs were weighted, so I had no worries there, but with a good zephyr from the wrong angle, 11×17 posters, bookmarks, and even books themselves can become wind sails. The best solution to this is again to have sides on your tent, but in my case, I managed to secure everything sufficiently to prevent any further incidents after the first 2 hours, albeit at a minor cost to the aesthetic appeal of my overall display.

Finally, while sunny weather means plenty of people around, once that sun reaches a certain angle–whether rising or setting–it can be a bit of an annoyance both to your eyes and your artwork. Too much exposure can, of course, eventually cause fading (particularly with red inks and dyes), and on really hot days, it could cause discomfort both to you and to customers stepping into your tent. My solution to this was to angle my displays away until the sun had gone behind the buildings on the opposite side of the street, but the best solution is, once again, to have side flaps on your tent. Now, if you’re unfortunate enough to have the front of your tent facing sunrise or sunset, there’s not much even side flaps can to do save you.

Wildlife

While my event was in a town, and therefore not subject to much interference by bugs or the like, this is something to be aware of, especially if you’re vending in a more rural or untended setting. Bug repellant is advisable under these circumstances.

Ambience

When you’re at a public event, you’ve got to remember that there are usually attractions other than vendors. This means stuff going on, sometimes in the immediate vicinity. In this case, there was a stage at the end of the street with live bands, some of whom didn’t have the best control of their decibel levels. There’s really nothing you can do about this except complain to the event organizers if it gets too bad, but otherwise, you’ll just have to endure it.

So, there you have it: my experience at Carry Nation Days in a nutshell, and some more important lessons learned. Would I consider doing another street fair type event after this? Certainly, granted the entry fees and requirements aren’t too high. The entry fee here was fairly reasonable, and the fact that it was local event meant no hotel. This is an important consideration, as hotel costs (unless, perhaps, you’re splitting those costs with others) can determine whether you make any profit at all. I know I wouldn’t have otherwise.

One final note I would mention that may or may not be relevant (or even surprising) is that this was a very different demographic than those I’ve sold to before. While most of you probably will not be attempting to hock your wares at a furry convention like I have (or you might, depending on your target audience), I observed that the sales of titles with humans (or humanoids, in the case of Evil Rising) on the cover to those with anthro critters were more evenly distributed here, whereas at furry conventions, while both do all right, there is a definite skew towards the anthropomorphic animal covers.

Hopefully this was helpful. I had a miserable time Friday evening, but a great time all day Saturday to make up for it. If I had the chance, I would certainly do Carry Nation Days again. Maybe I’ll see you there in 2025!