September felt like it was going to be our month. We had gotten a good flow with markets, got an idea of what markets are worth it, and had some great events booked.
Belmont St Fair [$185] - Sept 9th
It was hot this day, and we ended up on the sunny side of the street. I think for this reason, we had less people stopping. There were lots of waves, though, and the people that did come into our tent were great. A standout moment was when a mouse tried to come live with us. It crawled into a bag and did not want to get out. Other than that, there were tons of people walking around and stickers sold really well. I wish that I’d brought all of the shorts I was selling on this day because it seemed like the weather this day gave the last really good opportunity to sell the more summery items in PDX. If we go again next year, I think I would request a spot on the shady side of the street.
Castro Valley Fall Fest [$300] - Sept 9th & 10th
Castro Valley Fall Fest in Castro Valley, CA was a well organized event. I had a detailed map which made my spot easy to find. I arrived at 8:30 to set up for the event at 10. I could’ve driven my car up to my booth but there was a bit of a traffic jam so I just parked in a nearby parking lot and used my wagon to bring things to my booth. Set up went quickly and people started pouring in. Saturday was busy but we didn’t do as much in sales ($400) as I’d hoped for that much foot traffic. We wrapped up pretty quickly and headed home to rest up for the next day.
On Sunday Allison (@fdgery) joined us to offer portraits. Set up went super fast (probably took us 30 minutes) and the sales started pouring in right away. It was a true SunGAY and the queers were out in full force. We met some wonderful people and had our first 1k day in the bay!
Overall, this event was solid and we’ll definitely consider coming back next year. Our best sellers were our Cosmically Queer button-ups and our stickers.
Highlight: Meeting Lily a nonbinary 10 year old that asked what queer meant and we got to talk about being nonbinary together.
Lowlight: Being next to TWO catholic church booths.
Side Note: They said we had to pay 10% on sales above $1500 in the application but no one enforced it as far as I know.
September 16th [$185] - Clinton St Fair
The Clinton Street Fair was nice. We were next to a vendor that also attended RadPride and let us know that there were some upcoming October events that we might want to attend. On the other side, though, there was a realty group doing free pet portraits and balloons, so it did feel like there was a line blocking people from seeing our booth for a lot of the day. Even so, the people we met were really awesome and the area the event was in was fun. We ended up eating PDX sliders for dinner, which was 10/10 delicious.
Overall, we did $240 in sales which given the high fee wasn’t worth it. We’re not sure if we’ll be back next year.
September 23rd & 24th [$350 + 10% on sales above $1500] - Pacific Coast Fog Fest
Fog Fest in Pacifica, CA was HUGE, there was literally a mile of vendors. We were confused when they started roping things off just before the event started at 11 apparently it was in preparation for a parade. The parade was lively and had tons of different floats. One of our favorite floats was the pirate band (one of the band members came by late and bought a Florally Yours button-up). The parade lasted for an hour and then people were everywhere! Foot traffic was solid both days and we ended up doing $1300 in sales. Our best sellers were out button-ups and stickers once again!
OVerall, September was okay. We made all of our fees back and then some but all of the hard work of markets and high fees are starting to wear us down.
