I am starting with the market at Crossroads Mall here in Bellevue on Tuesday afternoons. It runs the end of May through September. This was a good pick for my first venture because I already had a Bellevue business license, so there was no additional expense. Plus it is close to home, has only been in existence a few years, thus not horribly crowded so I won't be overwhelmed as I try to figure out what I am doing.
The markets are all "juried", meaning you have to submit pictures of your product, and in some cases bring in samples to be evaluated by a jury to determine if it meets their standards.
When I made up my mind last fall to jump into this new venture I was hoping to hit some of the fall craft shows, so I went out a bought a really nice 10'X10' canopy that has the canvas walls that Velcro on in case of inclement weather. However, the fairs were too soon and I didn't have enough material to sell to warrant the entry fees. So my canopy never made it out of the box last year.
I have been making things all winter to build up my supply looking towards a summer start date, however, Becca and I went to Costco last Saturday and noticed that the farmer's market at the Pickering Barn across the street was already up and running, Yikes! Time to get serious!!
I have spent this week putting my booth together. Getting the canopy out of the box and learning how to put it up and take it down all by myself (it is HEAVY), getting some display tables, table cloths, making pots to display my totems that go on stakes, filling sand bags to weight each corner of the canopy (required by the markets) so that a gust of wind can't blow your booth around and cause damage to other vendors.
A lot of my garden totems go on stakes in the ground so I needed to figure out a way to display them. I had some large plastic pots I wanted to fill with sand and put the stakes in- but the pots were chipping and ugly. First I tried to paint the pots, which I did last fall, but unfortunately the paint just chipped off as well. So I came up with the idea to cover them in fabric. The pots needed to be heavy enough to support the totems without tipping over, but not so heavy I couldn't lift it in and out of the van. My compromise was 6 inches of sand in the bottom, then I filled the rest up with that expanding window insulation foam. After it dried I covered the top with moss.
I also needed to figure out some table decorations to go with my garden theme, so I made this topiary, it's a little crooked, but doesn't look too bad from a distance.
I wanted to set out all my product to see if I had enough to fill up my tables and decide how to arrange everything. Chuck thought I was nuts to drag box after box of glassware out of storage, up the stairs and outside, knowing I would just have to pack up everything and put it away in an hour or so. But I am a visual person, and I had to see my booth all put together to feel ready. It will save me time in set up at the market to already know which table to place things and how to arrange it. I don't want to get there and have decisions to make. Once I set up everything my tables were full and attractive. Just knowing that gives me confidence I am good to go.
Once I was all set up Jared and his girlfriend Ujong came home and perused my wares.
I am looking forward to this new adventure!
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