-- my first wimberley...

This past Saturday I ventured out and did my first market fair at the Wimberley Market Days in Wimberley, TX.

This is the oldest open market in Texas Hill Country and the second largest in the state with over 475 booths.

My sister was nice enough to drive down from North Texas to help me work it. Which allows me the occasional potty break without having to break down the whole booth. She’s also gotten deep into jewelry making and was able to use part of my booth to create a little jewelry stand.

The booth I got I thought would be excellent being that it was by the big pavillion which had music and bbq. But some observers said we’d be better off on the perimeter next time since that was the path most people walked. Now I was prepared to put up the EZ-Up I’d purchased but that particular booth had a little store built on it already. The owner just hadn’t shown up that weekend. There were a lot like that so maybe it is the slow month.

Now I didn’t have much to sell. So our booth wasn’t overflowing with inventory. And I just didn’t finish the cool display racks in time so I had to improvise with the rough shelves of the project layed across some cheap plastic shelves I picked up at Home Depot.

I’m pretty sure that contributed to a not so successful adventure. While I’ve never thought working fairs would be a money maker I did think it’d be good marketing opportunity that’d kind of pay for itself. In that light the booth was a financial disaster but a so so marketing success. I did get to talk to a some people, handed out a few cards and got some contact information from others.

The people that did stop and look sure offered up lots of compliments on the woodwork!

What I learned is this. You just have to have a professional looking display. Quality products just aren’t enough, people see the display first. Second, I’ve got to have a lot more inexpensive stuff that people can impulse buy. Finally, I’ve got to be doing demo’s especially since the overall goal is marketing a school. Dad also thinks that it’ll show value in the products being sold.

So the goals for the November Market Days is finish the display shelves, build a portable workbench and come up with 4 slick presentations that I can perform thru out the day. Perhaps making little nic nacs to sell. Additionally, I need to make a second display for seasonal items and load it up with Christmas ornaments and gifts that’ll sell for between $10 and $20.

So in the end it was a success. I learned what I need to do next time. I’ve also set the goal of leaving with at least a hundred contacts.

Jeez, that sounded like a guys bet on a Friday night excapade to the dance club. If only everybody there didn’t have white hair…