#clcdiyfest

I almost don’t want to write this… This show was a flop for me.

The Craft Lake City DIY Festival just held their 10th anniversary show this past weekend (Aug. 10-12) at the Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

Now I just found out about this show last year after moving back from Burbank, I was going to sign up but the deadline had passed. There are a few artists I follow that I found go regularly and have a good time so I thought, “Okay I will keep an eye out for when tables open next year!” And I did.

This is the first craft show I’ve done and also the first outdoor show I’ve done. I got a table instead of a booth, because it was cheaper. Only real sucky part about that was I had like no shade and it was 102F on Saturday – I thought I was going to die. I was smart and took my umbrella for shade but it was still brutal. I mean, it’s August in SLC, I knew it was going to be hot as hell but jfc.

The good points about the show:

Local only artists. It’s a show only for local artists, sculptors, crafters, food creators, ect., and they even had a cute little section just for kids who create things.

Staff. The staff I talked to were very helpful and had answers to my questions!

Venue. The Gallivan Center is huge. Like there’s an ice skating rink there in the winter months. There’s also a good sized public restroom.

It was also a very well attended show.

Onto the bad…

The Venue. It’s outside. In the middle of summer. IT’S OUTSIDE IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER!!!!

Vendors. Vendors are placed anywhere they can find spots for them. Now before you run off or message me asking why that’s a bad thing, let me explain. If you end up with a bad spot right by the entrances / exits like I did, you’re sales are going to suffer immensely. I also saw a few right next to the bathrooms, which didn’t look ideal either. And when you’re so packed together it can be hard to make sure you see everything there is to see. I guess part of this could go under the venue too?

Parking. There really isn’t free parking in downtown Salt Lake City. More of a personal peeve really…

If you’re local I’d say give it a try. I however will not be back next year.

Here’s what happened with me. I got a bad spot and my sales suffered horribly because of it.

My table was right by the entrance, like a foot away. Security was doing bag checks right before guests would get to my table, so by the time that was over guests are too busy putting things back into their bags or waiting for other members of their party to look around them. This is not an efficient system layout for your vendors. The table beside me and the booth across from me where having the exact same problem. And hardly anyone would walk down our way to see what we had to sell, because they didn’t want to block the exit or entrance pathways.

I had told the event during signup I’d be there all three days, (Fri – Sun). I left Saturday night after the show ended because I was so done with the situation. I could not go through another day of being passed up. In my five years of doing conventions, expos, and shows, I have not once left early. Even during the major flop of WizardingDayz, I still stayed until the end because I was holding out hope for sales.

I spent a total of $350 for this show between table, parking, printing, and other expenses. I only made $93 in my time there. I am so very far in the hole.