Organising a craft and country fair

Clare11

Has anyone advice on running a craft and country fair.

Our farmers group is running one in June 07. We have the insurance, police notification, council informed etc.
all sorted. There will be craft demonstrations taking place on the day.
We want to cater for those outside the farming community too.....the town folk. And we want to cater for the women e.g. alternative therapies, nail art.....whatever.. Suggestions?
And of course we are planning to cater for the children.
From experience what proves to be the most popular?.
Its difficult to foresee everything. Its best to talk with those who have had experience in such matters.
Its a new experince for us.
We want this to be a successful event.
We want variety!
Any advice would be much appreciated!

Kind regards
Clare

MrsTinks

have you made sure you have first aid cover? I think there has to be a first aid presence these days...

Face painting for kids is always a favourite... If you can then maybe pony rides would be popular too.

Clare11

hello Tine.
yes...first aid, etc all has been sorted. Face painting and a magician/clown or sorted too.
But I would like to know more than anything what side shows proved the most popular?

Kind regards
Clare

kethry

when i was younger (teenager - 20 years ago) i belonged to an archery club, and we'd do the occasional fayre or fete at various places locally over the summer. We'd set up the bosses (targets) within an enclosed area with nothing behind it, pinned balloons to the targets, then charged a fee of say £1 for 3 arrows. club members taught the contestants how to shoot, and if you popped the balloon, you got a prize (it was harder than it sounds). It was beneficial for us as a club cos you'd get a few people expressing interest in taking it further, and the funds were handy - i think a half and half split was common - and we usually ran a raffle as well.

you don't say where you are, but i bet your local archery club, if there is one, has something similar, if its allowed in these days of litigation and so on.. ! if you contact this organisation (Grand national archery society) they'd be able to tell you your local club and advise as to whether this is still possible.

other than that, i think the food related stalls were always the most popular. you could combine it with children - do a cupcake decorating stall with writing icing or something like that?

HTH

keth
xx

*debbie*

We faise funds for Hope And Aid every year and our most popular side show is Lob A Loo Roll. Basically, you colllect 3 not too grotty loos from your local dump (ask first, once they have got over the giggles they're ususally only too pleased to help!) and clean them up. Make a background, we use plywood. We then painted this and stuck on cartoony pictures of toilet symbols, clip art pictures of men on the loo etc.
Set them up at a suitable distance from the "Lobbing Point" and label the loos with different points, eg 5, 10 and 20 points. We charge 25p for 3 toilet rolls, and the punters have to get them in the loo. Highest score of the day wins a prize, usually whatever we have managed to blag from local stores or R&R!
Not a huge money spinner (we usually have a tombola going alongside as it raises more money) but it's a great talking point and seems very addictive!

To get more ideas of who to invite to bulk up your stalls, have you got a local farmers market? They often have lots of other sorts of stalls there, just go along with information sheets and invite all who look interesting. As a suggestion, give them a date by when they have to contact you, I once did a dog show and we had somebody wanting a stall the night before!!

Also, anywhere that does fundraising events might be willing to offer suggestions, try your local primary school. Our local does some events similar to the one you are suggesting and they have a list of contacts.

Most of all, Good Luck, don't get too stressed!

cannycat

In my last job one of my colleagues was a qualified massage therapist, and on our "Learning at Work" day one of the most popular options by far was the Indian Head Massage, so if you have someone who is qualified this might be a nice thing to offer - good as it's non-invasive and you don't have to worry about what you're wearing! We also used to have competitions quite regularly like "guess the number of jelly beans in the jar", closest wins.

When I was teaching a few years ago (outside the UK) we also had local festivals quite often and one activity that the kids quite liked was having to put their hands into covered boxes and guess what was in there, e.g. dried pasta, cooked pasta, squishy oranges, salt, sugar, etc. I have seen a variation of that at the Eden Project and other museums where you have various spices in boxes and have to guess the smell. Don't know what the health and safety implications would be though!

Sallys_Savings

The old fashioned stalls like hoopla and coconut shy go well too
Good luck

Clare11

Thank you folks! You have given me "food for thought".....
Sometimes craft fairs can be ......boring and that is why we would like to include alternative therapies for us women.
An indian massage sounds nice and relaxing .....I havent had one.......well..not knowingly....smiles.....I have lived a sheltered life.....smiles......Nor have I ever had a proper manicure which is another idea...... nail technician. Of course if these people charge "salon prices" on the day they wont get much business....thats for sure!
The childrens activities sound good and so does the archery but our insurance cover would probably consider this a "dangerous event".

But keep the ideas rolling........I'm listening.

By the way.....its so very stressful all this organising...When I waken early in the morning its in my mind......thinking of ideas etc........and the event is not until June!!...

Kind regards
Clare

bluenose1

The following always goes down well at our Church Fete.

Fairy cakes for children to decorate with tubs of different decorations and icing sugar.
The cakes can be bought for about 20 for a £1.00. So if you charge 20/30p a cake good profit to be made. Kids love doing this.
Also do it with plain biscuits.

A play dough table. were for 50p kids can sit down and mess with plaudough. Just need a few Playdough accessories.

Coconut stall

Plate smashing stall.

Football - get one of the dads to be goalkeeper and 50p for 3 shots at him. Just need kind parent to supply the goal and act as goalkeeper.

Wouldn't mind an Indian Head Massage, wish our fete did them.

I love going the Church Fete. Kids always come back with rubbishy toys, I have even known them to buy back something they have not known I have donated.

Sallys_Savings

A village nearby to myself do a fun dog show event. Its not a full blown dog show but just a couple of fun categories that the family dog can enter. You could perhaps get your local pet shop/s to sponsor? and have posters around the cornered off arena and also donate prizes. Or perhaps your local vets.

I know at the village one there is a vets nurse that comes along and offers general advice too, so is on hand to check that the dogs are treated well. It was advertising her practice and was good publicity. Its well worth having a word with a few.

The categories they had were:

The dog with the friendliest face
The dog with the waggist tail
Best walker
Fancy Dress
Fun agility
Childrens entry

This draws lots of families into the event if its advertised as a Family Pet Dog Show. You could have a side part with general pets...rats, hamsters etc too.

With the families coming along to the event it means they'll then be spending money at the other stalls too

---

Also I remember going along to a mobile pot roast at one of the villages and it went down a storm. Selling pork and apple in rolls.

Clare11

Gosh.......you are all a weath of ideas!
I fancy the pork and apple in rollss......mmmmmm.......
The pet idea is good too..........very good .....The vets couldnt very well refuse to help on the day as the farming community are their "bread and butter"....... The words "black mail" comes to mind.....smiles

Kind regards
Clare