Fairs? Any advice?

I know people have had previous discussions about this but I was wondering how people go about looking for local craft fairs? Or even which craft fairs are the best to go to.
It is very last minute but was wondering if I could get one in before Christmas but I feel it will be highly unlikely.
Any tips or advice.
All help is much appreciated
Thanks,
Cerys

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Best place for last minuteish I think is your local community on Facebook. I found two on there last year.

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Ok thanks :+1:

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I would expect all the really good fairs to be booked up by now with a wait list (my big local one takes applications between Jan and march, the smaller good one does applications over the summer). My advice would be to visit the fairs this year to find out which ones you like the feel of - would your product sit nicely along side the other offerings, ask the stall holders how good the organisers are, what’s the footfall like when you visit - and then find them online so you know when applications open ready for next Christmas.

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Thanks for the advice, I will definitely take this forward

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I actually only booked my last weekend very lovely 2 day fair on Friday. She was very keen to have me so managed to rearrange the tables to let me in. :slight_smile:

My advice would be to find as nice a one as you can and then when you are there ask the sellers for suggestions for others they have done well at. Then contact those fairs to book for next year. I have 2 of my fairs this year on that basis.

The big fairs are out of the price range of most small crafters and you need to have a lot of stock to take with you too. Some people only do the big ones and spend the rest of the year preparing for them.

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Oh thank you for the advice. Are there any ones you recommend yourself?
Thanks again

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I advise you to stay as local as possible , certainly until you have some experience both of setting up and running your stall but also of choosing the best fair for you. Nothing more disheartnening than driving 50 miles there and 50 miles back (Plus half a day preparing and a good hour setting up) only to find that the event has no local promotion and that there are more sellers there than buyers.
This of course means that any fair I recommend would not do for you as I am in Staffordshire and you are in Yotkshire and i would not dream of travelling that far.
:slight_smile:

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Oh ok :+1: thanks for the advice definitely going to take it on board

As has already been said, use the time now wisely, go to as many in your area as you can. It doesn’t matter how small they are, if they’re bad it gives you a feel for what that is really like - if they’re not doing well now, they won’t be any better in March. One of my best ones is in a local church but when you first walk in you think this can’t possibly work, but it does, extremely well! They advertise well in local shops, a big sign outside, on social media. The organiser communicates. They provide little touches like a free drink, they get the carpark free for the day rather than the usual charges - it’s very much community supported. And when I’m there, I talk to everyone, most stallholders will chat (if there’s any time) and that’s when you get good local suggestions and the places and organisers to avoid.

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There was a lot of useful advice in this thread from a couple of months ago, in case you haven’t seen it:

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Oh thank you !

Consider local Art Trails too, applications are usually early in the year as most take place in the summer months.
Derbyshire have some wonderful art trails where the whole town or village is taken over with arts and crafts. I’m sure Yorkshire will also have several you could apply for.

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Ooo this sounds interesting, will definitely look into that. Thank you