Market Day Around the Web...

Our vendors are busy bees, getting photographed and interviewed and blogging up a storm out there. Here are some choice links about Market Day and her vendors. _______________ Christine Hilbert of bean & the sprout in a write up in the Des Moines Register (previously featured in a vendor video here). Challenges: Hilbert said she has been fortunate to have been featured on the front page of Etsy.com and on admirers’ blogs, but she still has to put in a lot of work updating her shop and renewing items to keep it fresh. “When so many people are making...

Photos from July 31 Market Day...

A big ol’ thank you post: Thanks to our vendors for being too cool. We couldn’t ask for a group that is easier to want to support. Thanks to everyone who came out – we cruised way past May & June’s attendance numbers. Thanks for lining up to wait for the doors to open, for leaving your “I bought at Market Day” tick marks on our board, for buying from our fantastic vendors, for spending the day with us. Let’s do it again! August 28. Chricket Designs’ booth entertains shoppers. Outside! Never been in? Now you have a...

How to Shop and What to Ask...

Yeah, yeah – you don’t need help shopping, right? It may sound silly, but we’ve been doing this long enough to know that plenty of people feel unsure when it comes to making one-on-one buys at arts events. It’s up close. It’s personal. You’re buying handmade items and art. What should you look  for? How do you find quality pieces? What if you have questions? Always a good idea: Ask about the product. There’s no set rule, just feel free to ask whatever strikes you as you browse a vendor’s goods. Where did you get the idea...

Indie craft vs. Target...

Local Makers Have Amazing Products, But Big Box Stores are Easier to See When we took on Market Day, we were thinking a lot about how many talented Makers we know in our city alone. They make everything from shirts to wall sconces, from fine art to hair clips. But all of them are under the radar. We saw our neighbors driving out to Target in the ‘burbs to buy pretty goods made in China, shoddy giclee prints of anonymous paintings, and faux-vintage jewelry. Target's take on the internet-popularized vintage posters and their remakes. And it’s easy to see why:...

How To: Be Accepted by a Craft Show Jury...

We found a helpful post from Tina Seamonster at  Hello Craft: “Wowing a Craft Show Jury“, and wanted to share it with you. The more I thought about the post, though, the more I knew it needed more meat. I’ve been on all sides of all kinds of juries – organizer, jury member, artist in craft shows, juried fine art events, requests for proposals, you name it. Thousands of entries have passed in front of me, and so many of them have made me wish I could fill out a little suggestion card to send back along with the jury’s decision. It can be...