Has anyone participated in the Howard Allen "The Villages Craft Show" in Lake Sumter usually held the end of February. This is it's 5th year and I'm considering participating. My sister, who lives in the Villages, said that the show last month (in a different Village) had a lot of sightseers but she didn't see many packages any where. Would like a little insight on what to expect if possible. Thanks
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Will do Geoff :)
Connie: Glad this was helpful. Please pay it forward by reviewing the show after you do it. Nothing fancy, just elaboration on the kinds of things discussed above would be helpful! Thank you.
Geoff and Valerie thanks for the info. My pottery is functional and many pieces are priced anywhere from $10.00 (butter dish) to $35.00. Of course at this point with the weather here in Michigan I would use any excuse to get to warmer weather for awhile. Sooooo I guess we are going to add this show to "THE GREAT CLAY ADVENTURE 2014". Valerie, since I know that you are going to be there I will make it a point to look you up. That's one of the best things about doing shows...meeting new people!
We're thinking about touring around and visiting some family and friends while we're in Florida. Bob's parents are in Clearwater and mine in Lakeland and many of our friends have retired there. All in all this may be a good thing. We haven't really ventured out of Michigan to do any shows so this is very exciting for us. If you have any suggestions for "last minute sign up" shows that we should check out....please let us know. Again...thank you both for responding to my inquiry.
I did the Villages Jan. show and will be doing the Feb show mostly because I signed up for the 2 at the same time and didn't want to loose the deposit money for Feb otherwise I didn't do well enough in Jan to go back. Most of what was said above is accurate. It is cheap for me because my parents live there. If I didn't stay with them I would have lost money. They have a lot of shows in the area so there is no incentive for people to buy. They do get good crowds but they don't buy a lot or only lower priced stuff. My work is more arty than crafty though and more functional pottery will probably do pretty good. There was a pottery across from me that just did vases. she seemed to sell a lot but she was complaining that it was only smaller pieces and no one was interested in the big ones. My work is a little more outside the box and I got a lot of my favorite question which is "what would I use that for?" Setup is tight, I have a minivan and got there early so it was ok for me. People arriving later or with larger cars or trailers have a lot of trouble. Most of them seem to dolly in.
It's a very conservative Midwestern crowd, and not big buyers. American Craft Endeavors (Howard Alan's craft division) is in the Villages somewhere or other roughly nine months a year. So there is not much buying urgency. The booth fees are in the $230-240 range, I believe...and if you are staying with your sis it won't be expensive. If your pottery is functional and at a pretty low price point, you may do OK.
The setup starts early in the morning, 6 am I think, and can be pretty chaotic depending on your booth location and whether the Villages security team has their act together, or not (sometimes I think these shows take them by surprise). Alan has a few folks on hand to help with logistics, but the Villages controls access to the show and tells you what you can and can't do, and they don't do as reliable a job as the ACE folks do. So be prepared with a helper if you can.