Last week, I spent a couple days vending at what was undoubtedly the biggest general public event I have ever attended as an author: the 45th annual Oktoberfest in Tulsa, OK. This event, considered one of the best of its kind in the entire country, did indeed have all the necessary elements: German food, German drink, live bands in giant festival tents, and even a neat little amusement park–all located in a large park beside the Arkansas River. And once again the weather was perfect! The prospects looked good indeed.
Firstly, to say what I liked about Oktoberfest (which was quite a lot, I’m happy to say). In addition to all the above elements, which were quite enjoyable unto themselves, the crowds at this event seemed to be every bit as large as one would expect from the limited perspective I had. Wednesday (corporate night) alone drew in a significant number of people–easily several hundred, possibly over a thousand.
Speaking from a vendor’s perspective, I was very pleased with the positioning. The indoor vendors were placed in a big, long tent with multiple access points along its length, while the outdoor vendors (including myself) were lined up along one side of it, and thus were sheltered from the elements somewhat (i.e. no worries this time about my tent blowing away, even overnight!). My tent in particular was positioned at an artery where the sidewalk was intersected by another walkway leading to the carnival rides and food vendors, which was very handy, and drew more people to the spot.
And now for what I did not like. First and foremost, I did not realize ahead of time that the event was located next to a concrete factory (vendor parking being located in the factory lots). Hence, with the dry conditions, it was a real trial to load and unload each day and night due to the clouds of dust stirred up by the constant traffic through the lot. This is to say nothing of the dirt on the fairground itself, which was also kicked up in clouds, and thoroughly coated my tent and every exposed surface within it by the end, including my books and sign!
Another unfortunate part of the ordeal was the inability to leave early on a day to day basis. Vendor hours lasted until a minimum of 10:00 the two nights I was there, and had I stayed for Friday and Saturday, I would have been doing 12-hour shifts from 11 to 11 twice in a row! Personally, I think that, while vendors should be allowed to remain open until festival closing each night if they so desire, they should not be required to stay past sundown (i.e. around 7:00 P.M.). I realize this policy helps make the festival look fuller and livelier well into the night, but generally speaking, people who are up that late at a festival are more interested in the drinking than the vending.
Finally, and this is no reflection upon the event itself, the crowds I encountered simply weren’t interested in buying. Though we vendors were placed right up front, fairly close to the entrance and traffic on the sidewalk in front of us was very thick at times, I observed that with the exception of vendors offering snacks or candy, no one appeared to be getting many visitors to their booths. The indoor vendors behind us seemed to be getting even less traffic, though at least people who went in the big tent were more interested in actually browsing wares. Again, I do not blame the event organizers for this–after all, who thinks of Oktoberfest and immediately thinks booksellers?
As for my personal experience, I found the atmosphere far more enjoyable than my previous two outdoor events, and my duties at the table far from stressful given the dearth of visitors. Truth be told, I would have liked to carry on vending for the full course–perhaps my perspective would have changed significantly if I had, especially with what I can only assume were very sizeable weekend crowds. However, as it stands, I have only Wednesday and Thursday to go on for a couple reasons.
Firstly, one of my assistants came down with a severe case of food poisoning Wednesday evening, and could not join me again for the next day (nor any subsequent day because of his work schedule). My other assistant was not doing well under the air quality conditions, and so was not looking forward to the prospect of another day out there either. And finally, of course, there was the almost complete lack of sales, in fact, had one woman not come up and made a couple purchases right as I began packing up for the night on Thursday, I would have made no sales whatsoever. Again, this might well have changed over the weekend. But as things stood, it seemed a good idea to simply pack it in and enjoy the rest of my stay in Tulsa as best I could.
Now, given the chance, would I try Oktoberfest again? And would I recommend it to other authors/booksellers? Well, maybe. I was simply not prepared for the rigors of this show, despite the lessons learned and minor adjustments made from the last two. If I had more ready and able assistants, ideally enough to man the booth in shifts on the really long days, then I would consider it possible. If I had a wider variety of titles to my name (particularly some nonfiction, which I would love to have, but sadly do not as yet), I would consider it very possible. However, certain aspects of the show could not be helped no matter how prepared I or any other author was for a large, outdoor event: weather (which was nice this time, but may not always be), and the inescapable fact that Oktoberfest attendees think first and foremost of song, dance, food, and especially booze–not books.
For those interested and available, I will be making one final appearance this year at the Indoor Holiday Market in Leavenworth, KS on Saturday, November 2nd (more info here). I am looking forward to it immensely!
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