cocked up Craft Fair

doinkthemonkee

This is a vent. So if you not in the mood to read a LONG post please look away now :rotfl:

On Sat 21st June 2014 I had a stall at a Fun day Event. The organiser said she had a good background in organising events. She said that she was going to advertise it in the papers, on radio & locally with posters & banners etc.


Also that she is arranging for free hot and cold drinks for the stall holders thruout the day.


It sounded a good event. Many of us booked MONTHS ago. Some people paid months ago. I took ANNUAL LEAVE (3 days) to ensure I could attend the event & be properly prepared for it. Even my hubby arranged time off work so he could support me.
I spent HOURS putting the event onto local selling pages & bumping the posts. I tried to get the event on local newspaper & radio events listings when I realised that the organiser had NOT. I also listed the event on the local section of 'streetlife' website.
I put up the 2 posters she had sent me. I shared the event & its details on my feed. I asked friends & family to share the posts (& bless them many did). I did everything I personally could, on my limited budget & restricted timeframe, that I could.


On the day itself. I get up at 06.30am - those who know me know how I do not like/get on with mornings. But up I rise. Hubby & I pack my car (mostly hubby tbh as I am not quite yet functional) & off we drive. Luckily we know where it is, as there is only a tiny sign which can only be seen from 1 direction, near the venue. This sign was put up this morning. we know this as live in the area & reg drive past this venue. The sign was not there yesterday. However, along this road are signs (some quite HUGE) for other events occuring today.


Did we turn around & give up? No.
We drove in & unpacked.

Granted hubby left me shortly afterwards - tho in fairness he was going home to help fit our new oven as a few days ago the inner glass door panel in our existing one decided to explode while he was cooking his dinner (I was at work & thus missed 'fish ala glass').


I go into the hall & eventually find the organiser. She is a little vague in saying where we can set up. We decide on the outside as it is a nice sunny day & we can direct visitors into the 'shed' where there are other stalls AS THERE DON'T APPEAR TO BE ANY SIGNS INFORMING ANYONE OF THIS.


The organiser comes up to & past my stall at least 6 times. On 1 occassion she is ticking names off her clip board list. I tell her who i am, she says 'oh you are the lady that's been doing LOTS of promotion for this event'. She also tells me that 14 stalls have not come today - just not turned up inc the 'characters' for the kids e.g. micky mouse, ben 10. she tells me that some people will be getting some shirty emails/calls tonight.


That's right. Tonight. After the event has finished. Nevermind that the event details specified 'characters' for the kids, nor that I have shared this info oh maybe 100 or so times. yeah let's not even try to contact them now. Let's do that 'tonight'.


Anyway. About 30 stalls were there. Ok not as many as what was expected, but actually still quite a few. And it is a good mix of people/stuff being sold. The traders are a friendly bunch. We chat to each other. There is some good banter going on.


Did I mention the weather? Beautiful blue skies, warm with a nice breeze.


So we have good weather, we have a good mix of traders. Do you know what we don't have? yup visitors.


The organiser comes over again. I ask if she wants something for her raffle & she says 'yes, it could be anything, even something really little'. I DO have stuff for £1 on my stall but I donate an earring and necklace set that I had priced up as £15.


Approx 13.30hrs (it was prob a little bit before) a chap comes up & says he is 'popping' the organiser home as she has a migraine. We were also informed that the disco tonight has been cancelled. And that's the last contact I have with her as she proceeded to block me!
The trade never really picked up. We had people come by and look. But not a whole lot of buying going on for most stalls. Some stalls had left already. Not me, I stayed there til around 4pm & I only went then because I didn't want to look a right plank sat in a field on my own.


I come home, unpack the car & reflect on the day.

Things could have been done better.

The advertising for a start - where was the advertising promised? in the papers, radio, banners etc?
free drinks for the day? no mention of that at all to us on the day itself. no idea if anyone got one. Why say it & not do it?
Music - dancers turned up but no music.
the kids characters - turns out they have a wedding that night to do a disco at ... did they tell the organiser? Who the heck knows!
the loos were a bit sus ... but that's a venue thing - but did the organiser visit the venue beforehand to check facilities - who the heck knows?!

The general organisation of it was chaotic on the day. After the organiser went home 'poorly' we weren't quite sure who was in charge. Sure a name had been mentioned to me in passing 'karen, carol or maybe kate?' But what did she look like? I have no clue.
Anyway, I come home, unpack, have a drink (coffee, I haven't yet hit the 'hard' stuff). I decide to come up on facebook, put my pic of stall on & send a message to the organiser to see if she feels any better.


Except I can't. because she has blocked me. Apparently I am blocked for:
Spending hours of my time promoting this event as much as I can?
donating an item to her raffle - which now looks cancelled?
Who knows, I think I can hazard a guess. The organiser also blocked other traders & then removed the event listing after we made constructive critique comments (some of which were positive, all of which were polite) on the event page.


I also went onto my hubby's profile (I know, I am a bad bad girl) & found this post on her page:


''Thank you all those who so kindly left early and left Clare by herself whilst Dave struggled to get me home bless him maybe I should be more frank cause at the moment it has einforced my opinions of some humans they are not worth the effort, thank God for animals they are loyal and you can rely on them they appreciate you through the ups and downs some of you are being removed from this list and banned''
''before someone starst pulling me to bits think twice I am legally trained''


So to summarise, what could have been a really good, fun, sucessful day, wasn't and the organiser is blaming everything and everyone but herself. She appears to be blocking everyone who she thinks will be disgruntled about today.


Yes, you can't force people to spend money at events. But surely you shouldn't organise events if you, for whatever reason, aren't up to keeping the promises you have made about said event?

And as for running away & hiding, blaming everyone else? We did our best. You failed us. Did you really expect traders to stay at an event you couldn't even be bothered to?


If anyone would like to know the name/aliases of this organiser that I know plese PM me.

DomRavioli

So what is it you want from the organiser?

Unfortunately in business law there are a few things which mean losses cannot be mitigated the same as consumer law.

mije1983

DomRavioli wrote: »

So what is it you want from the organiser?

I don't think the OP wants anything really.

doinkthemonkee wrote: »

This is a vent.

It was a vent to get things off their chest and they found the right place to do it, being the 'Praise, Vents & Warnings' forum

whitewing

If it was the first time you have held this event there, then 30 stalls turning up was great.

I love craft fairs but money is still tight at the moment so I am not buying too much. Therefore, I would more likely go to the beach in excellent weather as costs are controlled.

Leafleting is probably the best way to get me to remember something is on. I am very forgetful.

Did anyone complain about lack of costumes? Those are just nice-to-haves to me as a parent - they wouldn't influence attendance.

How many people came and how many would you have hoped for?

How much profit did you make?

Have you had any incidental sales as a result of the preparation?

I am wondering if your expectations are inline with the business in general.

pinkshoes

Send her a message saying you are glad she is legally trained, as she has 14 days to return the necklace and earrings set that you donated for a raffle that didn't take place, otherwise you will take her to court for the money.

Some people just won't take any responsibility for ANYTHING.

doinkthemonkee

whitewing wrote: »

If it was the first time you have held this event there, then 30 stalls turning up was great.

I love craft fairs but money is still tight at the moment so I am not buying too much. Therefore, I would more likely go to the beach in excellent weather as costs are controlled.

Leafleting is probably the best way to get me to remember something is on. I am very forgetful.

Did anyone complain about lack of costumes? Those are just nice-to-haves to me as a parent - they wouldn't influence attendance.

How many people came and how many would you have hoped for?

How much profit did you make?

Have you had any incidental sales as a result of the preparation?

I am wondering if your expectations are inline with the business in general.

My expectations are:

if you say to people that you are going to do something then you do it.
e.g.
1. the organiser stated that she was going to put adverts in the local papers and advertise on the local radios. She did not. She did not even get the event mentioned in the free ads/what's on section of the local media.
2. The organiser stated that she was going to put road signs & banners up in the street to identify & advertise the event (so people knew it was coming up & where to go for the event). She did not.
3. The organiser said that she would provide free drinks for the stall holder thru out the day. Guess what? She did not.
4. The organiser said that it was going to be a summer solstice festival & that there would be live music, characters, cheer leaders. Guess what? The dancers turned up at 2pm but the organiser had already !!!!!!ed off & there was no music to dance to because that was supposed to be provided by the people doing the characters.
5. The organiser asked for donations for a raffle/auction she planned to do at the disco in the evening to raise further funds to donate to her chosen charity The Chickenshed Theatre group.
She posted before the event that she had 15 donations but wanted each stall holder to donate a prize.
She collected a prize from me on the day of the event in the mid-morning.
At no point during the event was there a table set up with the prizes, nor info about the raffle/auction, nor anyone selling tickets for said raffle/auction (she was vague about what it was so therefore so am I).
We do not know what has happened to these donations. What we do know is that Chicken Shed have not received a penny from the organiser. Still it is early days & maybe a cheque is in the post to them.


I acknowledge that the characters not turning up may not have been the organiser's fault (tho who knows, maybe she went back on an agreement with them & they took their facilities elsewhere?)

I agree that you cannot make people spend money. However there was a church fete less then 1/4mile away from this event. The church fete had a huge banner outside & had been actively advertised in the few weeks prior. The church fete ran from 12pm - 4pm. There was a queue to get into the church fete. One of the stall holders at 'our' event packed her stall up and paid £10 to get into the church fete & within the first 20mins had made £15.

People were around they just didn't know we were there. We had a few more people come in when 1 stall holder put her own stall bunting at the entrance to the venue & another chap went out onto the street & informed passerbys that there was an event on.

However, it should not have been necessary. Because if the organiser had done the advertising she said she was going to do & had done then we would have had footfall.

lincroft1710

doinkthemonkee wrote: »

''before someone starst pulling me to bits think twice I am legally trained''

Does this have any similarity to being "potty trained"?

doinkthemonkee

whitewing wrote: »

If it was the first time you have held this event there, then 30 stalls turning up was great.

Did anyone complain about lack of costumes? Those are just nice-to-haves to me as a parent - they wouldn't influence attendance.

How many people came and how many would you have hoped for?

How much profit did you make?

Have you had any incidental sales as a result of the preparation?

.

I sell out of 2 local shops so I get sales from time to time. I will use items I made for the fair for the shops. However, I was 'sold' this event as being something big. something worthwhile. On the basis of the information I (& others) were told by the organiser I used ANNUAL LEAVE to ensure I could do this event as I am a support worker & as such work funny hours inc late nights & weekends.
Other traders had been 'sold' the event & had come from afar as Hertfordshire & Great Yarmouth believing this to being a good event. Because of the info we had been told by the organiser.

profit?

That would be none. Many of the stalls were in deficit after this event. Not by a few pounds or pence. Some of them nearing £100 because of having degradable goods such as milk and cream for the coffee stall, cakes, food etc. Petrol costs etc.

the characters - yes people complained that they weren't there. Because the few visitors that we did have (some of them brought in by me sharing the event countless times on facebook) were brought in by the same incorrect info we, as stall holders, had been:

Summer Solstice Pagan Craft Festival Funday & Disco

jewellery, wood, silver, soaps, books, balloons, cakes, bakery, toys, holistics oils, Neals Yards, Semi precious gemstones, knitted goods, sweets, spiritual readers, natural healers, Bouncy castle, Owls

live owl handling, have your photo taken for £2
And characters for children from .......... Roadshow

Raffle & refreshments


so, yes there were people who turned up & were disapoointed that there were no characters & it was the stall holders like me who had to deal with the compalints because the organiser had left.

doinkthemonkee

DomRavioli wrote: »

So what is it you want from the organiser?

.

Ideally I would like:

An acknowledgment she did not do the things she said she was going to do.
An apology would be nice
For her to actually stop organising events. because, and this I am told is a legal term, she is crap at it.
I want people to be aware of her & not get pulled in by her.
I want her to give a donation to chickenshed that covers a reasonable amount of what people donated as prizes, or to send those prizes to chicken shed or to return those prizes as there was no raffle.

shegirl

It's quite common for people to be in deficit from a craft fair now.The market is saturated with the same old stuff.Every other person us a beader,cushion maker,sock monkey maker,tacky wooden home decor maker,and the list goes on and on.

I would also edge a bet that the church fete would be where people were far more likely to go.

doinkthemonkee

shegirl wrote: »

It's quite common for people to be in deficit from a craft fair now.The market is saturated with the same old stuff.Every other person us a beader,cushion maker,sock monkey maker,tacky wooden home decor maker,and the list goes on and on.

I would also edge a bet that the church fete would be where people were far more likely to go.

this would have been acceptable IF the organiser had actually done the advertising she said she would/did. Then at least we would know it not down to that.

Also a lot of people I know would go to both events being that they were so close to each other, even if it were just for a look. Esp as 'ours' had free parking & free entry.