Bizarre Bazaar - Maplewood, Dec 8

The Bizarre Bazaar in Maplewood was my last art show of this season, and far and away the best one I attended!  It took place on Sunday, Dec 8, at the Women's Club in downtown Maplewood.

From the start, it was well advertised and organized by Studio B.  I first learned about it from posters that were hung up around Maplewood (I saw it at Maplewood Karate where my son takes lessons).  While it was initially full, I was able to get in off of the waiting list.  It was very easy to register and pay online.

In addition to advertising it themselves, Studio B was also very active in getting the participants to advertise by offering graphics to use on their own websites and also sending out e-mail reminders.  They also were very active on their Facebook page advertising it.  The one improvement they could have made was a good landing page for people interested in the event (I created a Facebook event page to invite people to attend).

Graphic to use on website

The show started at 10 am, and I arrived around 8:45.  There was easy access to park and unload, and many volunteers helping out with the show to ensure that it ran smoothly.  One of the organizers, Elizabeth, showed me where my table would be, and they even had helpers to carry in boxes!  I should have taken pictures of the volunteers as they were all decked out in wacky holiday dress, definitely added to the overall atmosphere!

Get Well Games table - think I had it perfected by this show!

The reason I didn't take pictures is that I was too busy once the show began!  I'm not good at estimating numbers, but the show was very busy, starting right at 10 am and almost to the end.   The attendance fee was quite reasonable ($50), and I broke even around 11:30 am and continued to sell throughout the day.
There was a lull around 3 pm, and things died down around 4:30, but other than that there was a steady stream of people all day.  I would up selling 13 units, my best show of the season!

 It was a great crowd also, a very diverse mix of ages and ethnicity (what else would you expect from Maplewood?).  Lots of kids running around, they even had an abominable snowman the kids could take pictures with.  Great mix of vendors, with sculpture, photography, jewelry, ornaments, bric-a-brac, crocheted suffed animals, even cool pet supplies!  I walked around a little before the show, but didn't leave the table too much afterwards!  I'm sure location played a role in the great turnout.  The Women's Club where it was held is in downtown Maplewood, which has a great community of artists and creative types.

I wound up not playing the game too much (only 4 people played) as it wound up being a distraction from selling to others walking by.   No one who played purchased it, but lots of people purchased without playing.  I did also get 6 people to sign up for the mailing list.  But most people who walked by were interested, supportive, and some even took my business card to connect me with others who might help me!  So just a wonderful environment for my business.

My biggest lesson from this show was really the need to diversify.  There were quite a few people willing to buy, but just didn't have much need for a card game on back pain.  So a wider selection would have allowed me to have even more sales.  I think 13 or so is probably the most I will do with Back Up! at a show like this, but if I had other card games or even other items, I could have been even more profitable.  I will definitely return next year!