Lauren Musick Canna
Fest Crafts
Brainstorming
As a crafter myself (Canna Stained Glass), I have some experience with craft fairs. Some are really great, some terrible, some profitable, and some poorly managed.
I get the sense that there are some elements to craft sales at PFF that prohibit more crafters from participating. A good craft fair can generate a lot of local interest and foot traffic. Local craft fairs in PA are generally well-attended and there aren't any in the area in the summer, so PFS has a lot to gain by expanding this element.
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Crafters often
A. Don't have enough stock to supply a 3-day event.
B. Don't generate enough profit to warrant a hotel stay for the weekend.
C. Can't survive torrential rain and need an empathetic refund policy should the weather not cooperate, otherwise they will strongly favor inside events.
D. Can't generate enough profit on fest ticket buyers alone.
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What if instead:
Craft Area Expansion
Bold idea. What if we made it so that the public can attend the craft area as a craft fair without having to buy a day ticket? This would require moving the Main Gate to the mouth of the concert grounds - between the volunteer food entrance and the PFS Info building.
This would allow PFS to market it as a craft fair in its own right. BUT - once attendees are on the grounds - and there's music and food trucks and hippies just a ticket purchase away, it might lead to significantly increased ticket sales. Especially if there's no real food offered on that side of the gate (oh man, that's mean) - put a BBQ food truck just on the other side of the ticket gate. (kidding)
What if the craft area was expanded and made more attractive to crafters? Crafters are used to 10x10 or 12x12 space slots. They need a few hours set up and take-down. Many might prefer the option to give a single day and not have to commit to three days. What if crafts was only Saturday and Sunday? PFS could offer 75-100 spaces that have the option of being claimed for one or both days.
Even 75 slots x $250 per slot per day is $37,500 in profit. Do we care if a slot is wooden utensils one day and tie-dye the second day? Might that not even be better than the same crafts all weekend?
A craft fair should draw in attendees and be an abundant addition to the offerings with minimal outlay (additional buses perhaps) and minimal risk. Perhaps it would be prudent to hope for the best and consider craft fee income as gravy above financial projections and conservative estimates.
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I wonder if a large tent could be rented and erected T/W/Th if the forecast looks terrible a few days out?
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The risk to a free event is that the foot traffic can lead to overcrowding. I would think the remote location of the Farm and the need to park off-site and take a bus in would deter lookie-loos or wanderers-in.
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Is there room to expand? I would recommend taking over the space used for volunteer food (moving to camp side - see FestFood page) and the extra space in crafter parking and expanding the tent slots as seen in the image above (about 75 slots in that image - but without proper surveying and measurements, this is speculative).
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There are load-in and load-out procedures that would have to be iron-clad and well-communicated to move 100 vendors in from 8/9 am thorough 11am (and out again, but in is harder), but manageable.
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