Craftmen’s Classic, Columbia SC – Gilmore Shows (March 1-3)
This is the show that taught me the importance of good lighting. It was three years ago. We were all set up and ready to make money but it was just not happening. We were trying to sell photography in a booth in a corner of a dimly lit building. We walked around and saw that the booths that had customers and were making sales had nice lighting that showed their wares well. DUH! So I went to the administration booth and asked if we could purchase electricity on the spot. As soon as we did, my husband, Jim, ran out to Lowes and purchased a couple of reflector floodlights. Within 10 minutes of installation I started selling. Jim ran back to Lowes and bought a bunch more lights and cords. This was the beginning of getting serious about a really professional display. More on that in another post. By the end of the weekend we did OK at this show. Not really great but OK.
Last year we came prepared with track lighting and were ready for big money. It did not happen. We barely made expenses. We debated whether we should do this show again this year. We decided to give it another try and happy that we did. As it turned out this year sales were among our top five.
Friday was rather slow for us but Saturday we did pretty good. Sunday started off slow but ended up OK. Talking with friends it seemed most were just getting by.
What I like about this show:
- It is an indoor show. Having been in a micro-burst, a deluge of rain that collapsed our EasyDown, or suffering extreme cold and hot I have come to appreciate indoor shows.
- Load in and out is as easy as it gets. Our trailer was parked 50 feet from out booth and the ground is perfectly flat. Just be careful loading the cart as the entrance is a standard width door. Wider loads need to be taken to the other side of the building where the cargo doors are located.
- They have a nice artist lounge stocked with complimentary coffee, tea, bananas, apples, donuts and microwave.
- There is a great community of artists
- It is only about 2.5 hours from home
- The very nice and friendly SC Department of Revenue is on location Sunday afternoon to help you complete your tax forms and submit payment :-)
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