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Chincoteague Blueberry Festival

I don't often feel motivated to report on a show, but sometimes it's a must!  This was our second year at this oceanside event and worthy of a review.  

First, the venue - the Chincoteague community center is the location for both indoor and outdoor booths.  I can only really report on the indoor, but the outdoor vendors seemed to be happy.  Indoors, we have either a 10x10 or 8x8 space, with power available at extra cost.  The Air Conditioning is great, event with all the doors opening and closing.  Linoleum Tile floor is immaculate, as is the rest of the building.  "Dan", the center coordinator, is on-site all the time and ready to resolve any challenges that may arise.  The Wi-Fi is free, password protected, and great!  Plenty of ingress and egress for load in and out.  Tables and chairs are complementary.

Next, the promoter.  Sam Serio owns and runs the event.  Sam has years of experience as a vendor and it shows.  He is the Jury, and is very good at it.  No buy/sell indoors for sure, very little outdoors and those that are there do NOT compete with the crafters.  Sam also allows a few commercial booths like Bath Fitter, and that's fine by me.  They pay dearly, and keep costs under control.  Sam charges a $5,00 admission fee, with multi day discounts, coupons, and late arrival deals.  Sam also does a drawing on Friday and Saturday for a total of 4 - $50 coupons for next year's booth fee!

The Crowd - this is a largely tourist crowd that loves this event.  They buy.  They are not broke.  Super bunch of shoppers, and we make new friends every year.

The Vendors - first rate bunch.  Positive attitudes abound

The weather - last year hot, but this year was amazing

Hours - Friday and Saturday and Sunday, 9-4:30

The Island - Chincoteague is a vacation paradise.  Whether camping, Hotel, B&B or vacation rental, you will have a magnificent stay.  The annual Chincoteague Pony Swim is the Wednesday after the show.

This is a very nice event and the sales are great to good.  Our take is that if you can spend 2 weeks in a beautiful place, eat, drink and hang out, spend 3 days at a show and come home with more money than you arrived with, it's a big win!

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Kutztown 2009 - First Hand Account

I was at the Kutztown Festival yesterday (June 29) and as always, had a great time. The 9 day festival held in Kutztown Festival is like a Renaissance Festival, but cut out the minstrels and 'ol English dialogue and insert PA Dutch heritage, history, and traditional folk art. I have gone to the festival for about 5 years now and primarily go as a shopper with Christmas list with many names usually checked off by the end of the day once I am done there. I haven't been able to do the event since it takes place over a 9 day period.The event has taken place since the 70's and every year gets better with age. The jury does an amazing job with a large variety of folk art and traditional art forms galore. There is about 350 artists who make up the event, plus demonstrations from artists and others such as barn raising. I have several friends who do the event each year and find it to be THE event to do (and look forward to) each year as many make at least $5,000 over that period of time with many more making about $20,000 or so - all depending on what is being sold and contacts after the event. The event also offers information about hotel and even housing options including housing options at the local college and campground info as well as opportunities in staying on site.One artist, Lin who works with recycled glass cups and creates stained glass and butterfly feeders. New to the show, Lin stated how she was just happy to be accepted into the event. After the first two days of the event being open she quickly learned it can be a very profitable event making several good sales. Monday proved to be good, despite less foot traffic. In my experience, walking the event on both weekdays and weekends, some weekdays can be incredibly busy especially if the weather cooperates. The event ends around the 4th of July with a great fireworks display. Another artist, a jewelry maker who works with leather, attended the show for the first time last year, had such a successful time found it was necessary to buy two booth spaces. So far the weeks start has showed it was the best move to ever make.Don't take my word for it, go to their website - www.kutztownfestival.com (I think that is the site address) and see for yourself. Information on how to apply and more is found there. I am seriously thinking about signing up for 2010 - maybe I will see you there! - Michelle Sholund, By the Bay Botanicals
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