I've spent a good portion of my weekends the last few months preparing for a few arts & crafts shows this summer. I did my fair share of them back in high school and college, but forgot how much work goes in to getting everything in order. Between the tent, display system, and inventory of mats and frames on hand, there's plenty to do! That's not to mention all the legal and tax hoops one has to jump through to operate even a small business.
Aside from the products actually being sold at a craft fair, arguably one of the most crucial aspects of any vendor's business is the structure from which they sell their goods. At these events, this is almost always some form of tent, but the quality and stability of the various models can vary drastically. My first tent (shown in the photo above), was a collapsible all-in-one unit, and while extremely convenient and quick to setup, wasn't all that weatherproof and didn't fare well in the wind (even when staked or weighted down). With that model starting to show its age and certain components breaking down, the time was right for an upgrade.
I settled on the Flourish TrimLine Canopy, an extremely well built and expandable tent system.
The base tent comes in and 10' x 10' with a 7' wall height, and feels downright spacious compared to the pop-up. The fabric of the roof and walls is 100% waterproof and even without being staked down feels extremely sturdy. To be fair, the TrimLine is more than 5 times the cost of the pop-up, so this is like going from tee ball to the majors. It's worth mentioning that the folks I dealt with at the Flourish Company were very personable, offering some of the best customer service I've experienced.
With that said, the first show I'm going to is Art in the Park at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs on July 9th. I am also planning to attend the Markets at Round Lake craft festival in Round Lake on August 13th and 14th. If you get the chance to stop by, please come and check out my booth and say hello!
I'll leave you with a short timelapse showing the process of setting up the new tent.