July 03, 2004
Charlotte Farmer's Market
We spent today at the Charlotte NC Farmer's Market. The State Department of Agriculture runs these markets to give local farmers a place to sell their goods. They also allow local crafts persons to sell their wares at the Craft Market on Saturdays.
I had contacted Frank the Market Manager to see if my photographs would be allowed for sale. They are of local flora and fawna. He said that would be fine and that the fee was $10.00 per space. So I figured what they heck. I need to start showing some sort of return for the investment I am making in taking these pictures.
Once I decided to go the Market I needed to make sure everything was presented nicely. To start with I had to decide on a product. Pictures are one thing, but packaging can help you get the sales. I figured that this is a flea market type atmosphere and as such people would not be willing to spend a lot of money. I was not going to be selling $100 prints here. So I made 4 x 6 and 5 x7 prints and then matted them to standard frame sizes. I found a really good supplier of mats, mat backing, and poly bags for this project. I am keeping that a secret because I can't give away the costs. I sold the 4X6 prints for $3.00 and the 5X7 prints for 5.00 with discounts on multiples.
After getting the inventory together, I needed a good way to display the pictures. I had originally thought about putting hinges on three pieces of peg board. This is pretty common at fairs and such and allows you to position the pictures easily around the surface. However, I didn't like any of the hinged solutions that I found so I took another root. I purchased a Savage Port-A-Stand background stand kit from Wolf Camera. The contains two light stands, a crossbar, and carrying bag. The idea was to hang the peg board from the crossbar. I decided on using rubber quick ties vs. hooks. They are incredbly cheap and easy to thread through the holes in the peg board and over the crossbar. A table is supplied with our rental fee and I purchased 2.5 yards of 44" wide black fabric to drape over the table. Then I found some red and black crates to hold the finished works.
The original idea was to have people look through the "browse bins". Later in the day we just laid the pictures on the table. This allowed people to see everything in one pass. I think it definately helped our sales.
Marlene was a real trooper. We both had to wake up early to make sure we got a good spot in the barn. She very helpful in getting things set up and organized. The background stands worked pretty well. We were able to get up and down in 10-15 minutes.
We didn't make a whole lot for the day, but it was a good start. We sold over 10% of the inventory and at least covered the rental. There were some craftspeople there that didn't cover their rental. It was a slow day because of the holiday weekend. In the end we did have fun. I really enjoyed hearing people speak about my work. We may not have made gobs of money, but we had a good time. The other craftsmen were entertaining and the people watching was fabulous. We are planning on doing this again next weekend.
Here are some pictures from the day.
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