Tips for Surviving Outdoor Arts and Craft Shows

It has been a very busy summer since I decided to start selling jewelry at outdoor shows. Like anything new, it has been a learning process and every show brought different challenges. So I have compiled a list of the things I have learned by facing the challenges if you are ever thinking about embarking on this adventure!

(1) Weather
You can not control it but you can control how you deal with it. I learned that wind is not your friend and displays that worked inside don't always work outside. We had to weigh down all my mannequins with sand filled cigar boxes and screw their bases in to the box to keep them from moving. This took about two shows with gusty winds for us to learn this, since we got tired of hanging on to everything and picking broken jewelry off the ground.

(2) Good Shoes

Now when I mean good, I don't mean date night shoes or those that are really cute. I mean good as in possibly orthopedic and ugly. Your back and feet will love you at the end of the day if you invest in good pair of shoes. I stand for almost of a entire show since I like to engage people to look and my jewelry needs a bit of explanation. Very first show in flip flops was an eye opener. No support for your heel means sore feet,back,legs and head and makes you wonder why you what to do another show. 

(3) Water

Now I am not a huge drinker of water, but my lovely husband is and he makes sure we have a smaller cooler with water at all the outdoor shows. I can say that it does make you less tired although bathroom breaks are more frequent, it does help you with your stamina. It is most important on hot summer days when sweat it rolling down your face and you wonder if you will ever cool off. Water helps to make it a little more bearable.

(4) Attitude

This is my lovely husband who comes with me to every show. He helps me and takes time out of his weekend to cart all my stuff to every show. He puts up with my pre-show craziness and my worry that each show is going to be bad and. Very rarely does he not want to be there but everyone has those days when they don't want to do something. We just get thru the first hour of the show and then things seem wonderful and the show is over and its time to pack up. Then we thinking about all the things that we have learned and what we might need for the next show

Its a learning process that keeps moving and changing. Hopefully this helps someone out there if you are thinking about outdoor shows.. They really are fun!

Enjoy!