Craft Fair - St Marks Lincoln 24th July 2010

My first post for this blog. Why am I doing it? Well the answer is pretty straight forward. I feel, having shown my wares at a number of craft fairs and having helped my wife with her wares as well, that crafters/artists are getting a bit of a bum deal. I also think that craft fairs, markets or even the craft tent at your local show are pretty much a waste of time. Unless, that is, you're just looking to have a day out and are not bothered about making money from your craft/art work.

PLEASE NOTE: Whenever someone's face or a car number plate appears I blur them out. It's not a fault with the camera.

This post is about a craft fair that was held on Saturday, the 24th of July. It was located near St Marks Square, a shopping area that is located away from the High Street in Lincoln. The craft fair was meant to be part of the Italian Market, which was taking place at the same time but at a central location which was about 500 metres away (on foot). 

Italian Market Stall, The Cornhill, Lincoln

As you can see from the image above, I popped along to see the Italian Market. I thought it was excellent. Well placed to take advantage of passing footfall, colourful and stocked with some very attractive goods (Cheese, salami, olive oil, pastries and a huge range of what looked like nougat). It was located at The Cornhill. We weren't. That's an important point.

Lincoln High Street, looking Southward towards the Italian Market

This image was taken looking towards The Cornhill section of the High Street. The crowds are pretty obvious. The area around the Italian Market was very busy. A pity we weren't located with them. There was a suitable space....

The Cornhill, Lincoln - Empty but for one van

which was unoccupied save for a single van (see image above). This empty space was only a few metres from the Italian Market and all those people.

Instead we were about 500 metres away.....

This is what people saw when approaching our Craft Fair from the East

obscured by two cars and an Ice-Cream Van (which was moved later but the cars remained) and we were placed facing away from the main flow of people.

This is what people saw approaching from the West

The oh so attractive backsides of our stalls - not exactly inviting

Now I don't know about you but presenting the public with the backsides of a number of stalls, with no signs, seems highly unlikely to draw in the crowds. And strangely enough I cannot say that we were inundated with multitudes of people.

So to put it into bullet points

• 
  
  We were meant to be part of a Italian Market which was held the best part of half a kilometre way. We'd even been asked to produce Italian themed goods for this event. Why? There was no link between the two events.
• 
  
  Our stands were facing away from the main flow of people and the most popular (in my opinion) shop in the area. Guaranteeing that people would not see our offerings.
• 
  
  The placement of two cars (a local car dealership promotion) and an Ice-Cream Van meant that people approaching from the East could not see the stalls very easily. 
• 
  
  People approaching from the West just saw the backside of our stands.
• 
  
  No signs were out promoting our event. Nothing to say that we were meant to be an Italian themed craft/arts market. People at the Italian Market in the centre of Lincoln would have had no idea that we existed.
• 
  
  To cap it off - During set-up it was obvious that some staff at one of the stores were not happy with the placement of our stalls. Soon some security personnel turned up and I heard and saw them trying to see if the stands could be moved. Unfortunately, by this time,  the stallholders had mostly put their wares out and moving everything was apparently deemed impossible.  In some ways you cannot blame the local retailers for not being happy to have a slew of stalls outside their shops. It obscures their shop fronts and distracts potential customers from their shops.

This event just reinforced my belief that a craft/art fair run in conjunction with another event is a poisoned chalice. Especially if you're placed well away from the main event, as was the case here. If someone asked me if they should take a stall at another St Marks Lincoln Craft/Arts Fair I'd have to say no. Unless the stalls were faced towards the main flow of people and a guarantee that unwanted distractions (like a car promotion) wouldn't be there.