A friend and I are looking into organising a craft fair in our village, Ashtead, in Surrey. There is just nothing near us that we could attend or to be honest, would want to attend so we are considering setting up our own event.
We are in the very early stages but we would like to know if there would be any interest from stallholders. The T&Cs would include that everything on the stall must be handmade by the stallholder; they must have relevant and adequate PLI; no items breaching copyright, so no Marvel or Disney stuff; and they must be relatively local, so based in North Surrey (not counting places like Croydon as Surrey, theyāre London).
In return we would keep pitch fees as low as possible - just to cover the hall rental, weāre not looking to make money from fees - and deal with the advertising etc.
Weāre trying to see whether there would be any interest from stallholders, hence this post.
What do you think? Is this something people would be interested in? Are there enough relevant craftspeople in North Surrey?
Hello Heather - if itās any help we are part of a group that was set up during Covid as lots of our standard market venues werenāt being very organised. So just 6 of us got together and booked a small hall in Kingsbridge, Devon for a 3-day market in September 2020 and after our success there, we booked four more events for 2021 in Kingsbridge and we are still doing them - along with three 3-day events in Kingsand in Cornwall - just a fluke to have two āKingsā¦ā. We now do 7 events a year together and we love them. We are all good friends - work together to unload and break down, look after each others stands if we canāt be there and have fabulous markets.
Right from the start we simply divided all costs equally between us - hall rent, heating when on a meter, marketing - postcards into shops and cafes, banners and display boards. Some only had single tables, some took up more space but as our hall costs were low no-one made any issues. We set up to create a fabulous whole market display - not just āmy standā. After a few initial hiccups we now have a rule that anyone new into the group must be able to do the three days after a few issues with access to keys and someone having to go in early for someone to set up for an odd day.
Until now we have numbered 9 - 2 have recently pulled out - one permanently and one temporarily due to illness so we are quietly looking for some new members. We opted to be a member group rather than taking bookings from anyone and everyone to avoid the frequent issues of stall-holders arguments over pitch size, āI wanted to be thereā etc that we had grown accustomed to in our usual venture. Itās also much simpler. Our main aim from the start was to work together as a group to collate a fabulous display of handcrafted pieces all locally made in Devon and Cornwall - we mostly all live either side of the border. We have returning customers and both locations look forward to having us back - Alan and I have just delivered event postcards to cafes etc in Kingsand for our event next weekend and we got lots of positive comments. I do the social media - two other people manage the hall bookings. But we all muck in and share media posts, do event postcard drop-offs, collect keys etc.
If you can get the right people together, I would highly recommend it. Good luck
Thank you - that sounds like a terrific set up. Iām not sure if it would work for us here though.
One of my biggest concerns is that there would not be an audience for our sellers. Iām also bothered that there arenāt enough wholly hand-made craftspeople in this area. We have four people who have expressed an interest and thereās the two of us so we would need around another 10 people to fill the hall.
Weāll keep at it though, your story shows it can be done!
Youāll be surprised how many people you might find - even in our small village thereās at least five people quietly crafting away.
The issue of wholly hand-made is an issue and one we missed out a couple of tricks - but I would stick at it as much as possible. We have always marketed ourselves as handmade but have made a couple of choices we didnāt entirely think through - particularly artists who have some of their work printed onto mugs, cushions, coasters etc. Thatās a difficult one. We currently have a lady who creates beautiful images by stitching pictures onto old sea maps. They are gorgeous but from that one original she creates - loads of things are printed from that image - cushions, tea-towels, coasters, aprons, table mats, jigsaws, prints. So her whole stand is all commercially printed material - itās a fabulous looking stand - very bright and colourful - but itās not what we intended in our original plan - but we missed thinking this bit through.
Be ready for constant requests for tables - as I do all the social media I get lots. As we are a small group we have a base line of having to know the person and that we get on with them - we are currently quietly looking a little wider on that score to try and fill some craft gaps, but we are being careful to invite them as a guest first and see how they fit in, before we ask them to join the group.
The handmade thing is a hard line for both of us. As in, the item you are selling must be hand made by you, not something produced by machine to your design. I can see a grey area with, eg greeting cards professionally printed with an artistās work and Iām still not clear in my head where I stand on that one.
And then thereās the level of āhow muchā handmade. I once did a fair where a woman was selling commercially bought-in deep picture frames with three coloured buttons stuck on white paper. Not fancy buttons or vintage, just brightly coloured plastic buttons. My instinct would be to decline any application for that sort of thing but is that right?
Bit of a minefield once you start thinking about it, isnāt it?
It certainly is - and with my Alan having retired from woodturning - very handmade - to photography - thatās been a loop to go through in my head - and maybe some of the group too but they didnāt say anything. Our artist sells prints too. Heās sought out and researched what he wants to photograph, processed it on his computer but obviously any printing is out-sourced. But that goes for a lot of artists who will sell prints and cards of their originals. You just slowly need to work out what you want to accept and then stick to it. I guess thatās the same minefield Folksy have to work through too - but for you itās a personal choice of what - and who - you want to work with.
I wish I lived nearby, I would definitely be up for joining your group, it sounds fabulous and all my work is original, hand painted, although I do buy in frames, they are from a lovely lady based in the Channel Islands who makes them to order.
Anyhow I digress, just wanted to say good luck to you Heather @RiverfallJewellery
Lynne, your work is stunning. We would be thrilled to have you join us if you were local, youāre exactly the sort of craftsperson weāre looking for. If you ever move to Surrey, let us know! (But I would stay in Derbyshire if I were you, itās much nicer).
Thank you, that sounds perfect. We are still in the very early stages of finding out if this whole thing is feasible but we will definitely get in touch again.
