Venue:
Large park next to the ocean on the north shore of Massachusetts -- a popular spot for vacationing both for day-trippers and weekenders. This should be a good crowd, but it does mean that traffic getting up there is a complete bear. If you're going to do this show, go as early as you can on Friday to beat the crowds.
Weather:
This was a problem. Saturday was overcast and humid, not too hot, but the jewelry didn't really pop without the sun. The breeze off the ocean was nice, but it brought a salt-and-grime crust to almost everything. Sunday was brutally hot and humid. People didn't want to walk around. There were severe thunderstorm warnings for Sunday on the radio, so that may have kept some of the day-trippers at home.
Vendors:
Castleberry Fairs is a juried show, but the jurying is quite loose. There's quite a bit of buy-sell in just about every area, not just jewelry. To do well at their shows you have to have something that stands out as quite different from what everyone else is doing in the field and what can be found from importers.I had several people who came into my booth and told me I was "a cut above" the rest of the jewelers there, and I heard from some of the other jewelry vendors that their sales were terrible. I was busy enough that I didn't really have time to look much, but I did get around to a few of the other jewelry booths.
One woman had lovely pieces, but they were clearly mass-produced. She was a really great designer, but if someone was looking for artisan jewelry, she wasn't it. There was a wirework guy, and he did very nice work, but he really only had three designs...everything was in those designs but with different stones. The other two booths I saw were a woman who basically strung Swarovski crystals and one who I am pretty sure was selling Indian-made jewelry.
Gloucester is a "festival" show. There's a rock wall for kids and a big food section along with a band stage. The Rotary club had a pancake breakfast the first day and a lobster bake the second day, which brought in a fair number of people. There were people walking dogs everywhere.
Sales:
I sold a couple of expensive pieces, but most of my sales were either in the $10 range or the $50 range. I think I could have done better if the weather wasn't so nasty and if I had more beads than jewelry. I also need to get some big posters of the beads to draw people to them and show that I make them myself.
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