Caistor Craft Fair and Art Show

The grand entrance to the event

Location : Caistor. But where is Caistor? Well, I'd never been there before this weekend. It's located some miles south of the town of Brigg. Located along a long windy road that can be a little scary to the unwary. Local population of about 2,600 (care of Wikipedia) and to quote one person of my acquaintance "it's the pimple on the arse of nowhere".

Promotion: There were signs on the way into Caistor and a damned good thing to. Without them I'd never have found the place. Apart from that I saw or heard nothing else that indicated an event in Caistor.

First Impressions: Not good. The event was being held in what I believe is the Town Hall. The small car park adjacent to the Town Hall was small and had only one empty space when I arrived. There was an overflow car park "nearby". "Nearby" means beyond walking distance and up a steep hill. Not somewhere that an elderly or infirm person (the majority of stallholders and visitors came into these two categories) could easily access without suffering a heart attack.

General Comments: The event was really two events. An art show/competition and a craft fair. The art show was so well hidden that I didn't even notice it on the way in. The craft fair was in the usual arrangement of stalls round the walls of a hall with some stalls in the middle. The stalls seemed, to me, to be very cramped. Too many stalls in the hall? Probably.

The merchandise on sale was the usual stuff. In fact I am now getting very bored with these events. It always seems to be the same "stuff" for sale. Greetings cards, jewellery, knitted goods, bags, some turned wood objects, pottery, some original artworks. It all sounds the same. Looks the same and is the same. It is dull. Little or nothing that might attract a man to make a purchase.

Watch out for that crowd!

In fact that is what I really want to talk about. A quick check of this event threw up an interesting fact. Nearly all the stalls were run by women. At all the craft fair type events I've attended nearly all the stallholders have been women. That accounts for the plethora of feminine products that are offered for sale. And that is the problem. Why? Because it is the men who have their hands on the cash not the women. So even if what you produce is fantastic and cheap the money holders (men) won't release the cash. I have even seen women about to make a purchase dragged off by their male companions. 

Another issue is age. Many of stallholders appear to be "getting on in years". One comment I overheard was "god's waiting room". So true. A great many of the stallholders are retired and elderly. Perhaps craft fairs attract the older person. But it also has a detrimental affect. Young people, whether you like it or not, don't like older people at all. They also, from what I can see, don't like what is offered for sale by older people.

This craft fair, like so many others I have looked at, offered nothing new and exciting. It was located in the middle of nowhere, in a location far away from the bustling shopping crowds of Scunthorpe or Brigg. It was dominated by elderly ladies and was stocked with items that, frankly, left me cold or bored. I think that unless the craft fair movement gets an urgent injection of young blood, and I cannot see that happening any time soon, then it will die off over the next ten years. The question is would anyone care or even notice?