Local Craft Fairs

Find out which are the right craft shows for your products

Find the best local craft fairs.

Know what to look for in a craft show and find out if it is the right opportunity for you to rent a craft fair booth. Selling homemade crafts at craft shows can be challenging. Use these suggestions and tips to make your craft show experience successful and profitable. The first question is where to find out about local craft fairs.

Use the resources at Finding Craft Shows to get a listing of upcoming local craft shows. Then you have to narrow the choices down.

How to Choose Craft Fairs

Once you have got a list of all the local art and craft shows it is important to decide which are good potential local craft fairs to sell your products at. You can do this based on a number of important criteria.

Entry Fees. There are usually two ways that a craft show charges vendors. The show promoter takes a straight commission of your total sales. The commission ranges from craft show to craft show so find out the exact percentage.Other craft shows charge a straight fee for a booth. Again this amount varies but is usually less for smaller shows. Decide on how much you are prepared to spend for a booth. It may be a good idea to start small. Find out about local craft fairs sponsored by local community organizations and schools while you're establishing your craft business and keeping your expenses to a minimum. One option to reduce expenses is to share a craft fair booth with another crafter.
General attendance numbers. Try to find out how many people attend the show. This will help you decide if the entry fee is cost effective in terms of the amount of people who will look at your crafts.
Mix of items for sale. Look at the type of items on offer at the craft fair. Will your crafts fit in? You want local craft fairs that have a theme or style that complements your merchandise. High fashion jewelry may not fit in at an organic craft market. Look at other activities the event offers such as entertainment and food outlets. What sort of people is the craft show likely to attract and are these potential customers for your crafts?
Number of vendors. The bigger the show, the more vendors and the higher the entry fee. It does mean more competition for customers but the more vendors there are the more people will attend.
How many vendors selling the same or similar crafts? Depending on the crafts you are selling there is always likely to be some competition but you don't want to try and compete with too many other crafters selling the same product.
Return rate of crafters. The more vendors coming back to the craft show the more they found it successful. A decent return rate is about 50 percent. Well established shows have an established attendance and established vendors. If you can, talk to vendors who have attended these craft shows to find out more about the show. Sometimes you can access a vendor/exhibitor list from the craft show promoters.
What do you have to provide? Do you have to bring your own tent and tables? Are there any additional costs besides the booth rental such as required marketing and advertising costs, parking fees, electricity costs, overnight security and insurance requirements?
What sort of marketing do the promoters do? Look at how much effort the promoters put into advertising and marketing the craft show. The more effort the more likely the success of the craft show.
Location. For local craft fairs look at where exactly the craft show is located. Is it easy to find? Are there any parking issues? Look at the options for the location of your craft fair booth. Are you able to get a desirable spot or are you hidden away somewhere?
Is this a juried show? Some craft shows are juried which means that judges review your crafts and select you. An unjuried show is open to everyone.
Craft show hours. Find out what time you have to be fully ready and set up and at what time you can take down your booth. Make sure the hours suit you. How long does the craft show run? Can you commit for the entire period? Make sure your read the application carefully, including the small print!

If you decide that the local craft fairs are a good opportunity for you to sell your crafts then use these free guides to help you get the most out of selling at craft shows.