Manteca Crossroads
2011 Street Faire
April 2-3, 2011
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Saturday, April 2. Left home at 5:15 and arrived in Manteca around 6:30. Went to the check-in area and they had a boy on a bike take us to our spot. It was still dark when we parked the van and began to unload. I always make an attempt to arrive there early to avoid congestion.
We finished setting up by 9:30 and had half an hour to spare until the show 'officially' began at 10:00. There were some early bird worm catchers but the crowd was mostly sparse until noon time. Our booth was situated directly across from the food area.
FOOD. I picked up a Lockforde sausage. The price wa $6.00 for one, up a dollar from last year. Still a good deal though. I walked over to the guy taking orders. I told him 'the works.' Pile on that sauerkraut and onions. I took it back to my booth and shared it with my wife. Very good. Still the King of Sausages. In past years, I had seen the line at their booth have 10-12 people during the afternoon. Being across from them this year, I noticed that the line was never any longer than 2-3 people. This was the same situation with the other food booths.
THE STAGE WAS PERHAPS 120-150 feet away and things did get kind of loud whenever the local bands performed. They had some idol pretenders sing and some of them weren't too bad.
THE WINDS BLEW most of the day and were strong enough to give my canopy a rock-me shake-me time of it for much of the day. That reminded us of our days up in Winchester Bay, OR where we had two canopies up and had to deal with constant 30-40 mph winds. That's not a good feeling, I'll tell you that. After you have seen your canopies crumble to the ground, you really worry about a strong gust taking it airborne or flipping it over. Matter of fact, the wind flipped over a canopy near us overnight. Rookies!!
It was on the cloudy side all day long and since we were located in the shade, it was kind of cool. Every once in a while, I went out in the middle of the street to warm up.
ON ONE SIDE OF ME there was a local Youth football team trying to get signups. Yep, here we go again. They were passing out postcards in the street and one of the adults had a habit of standing 5 feet in front of our booth. That is a no-no, as far as I am concerned. He was reprimanded by me for his actions. Can't complain to the Chamber about it because they just want their money and don't care what the people do.
THERE WAS A FUNNEL CAKE booth across from us. I find it kind of interesting that they also had two ATM Machines set up on the street, one of which was located about 15 feet in front of us. I didn't really see very many people using it. I read all the signs that they had pasted to it. They were charging $3.00 per transaction. Maybe 5-10 people used it over the two days; I don't know. I stood out there and leaned up against it occasionally. I found it very funny that there was wording on there that said 'monitored by the FBI.' Yah, right. The FBI is going to be monitoring their machine. Who the heck is going to fall for that. I got a good laugh at that one. There was also something on there that said it was bolted to the ground.
THERE WAS A KID HAULING a huge garbage can around that was much larger than he was. I was going to ask him if he could help me stick that rinky-dink Automated Teller Machine inside the garbage can so we could haul it away.
Sunday, April 3
Arrived around 9:15am and found 3/4 of the booths on my street were already open. Show begins at 10.
Fili-Cheesesteaks. They had a Filipino food booth there. I picked up an Adobo Combination plate for my wife ($7.00). She said that the food was okay, but the portion was very small. Matter of fact, of all the Filipino food she has gotten at shows, this was the smallest amount of food. I got a Philly Cheesesteak from there. So, we can actually call that a 'Fili-Cheesesteak.' Wasn't particularly good. The meat was overcooked. Small amount of peppers and onions. Two 3x3 pieces of Provolone Cheese layered across the top. Not impressed. Uh uh.
THERE WERE MANY PARENTS AND KIDS playing with my merchandise. I don't think I ever saw so many grabbers at a show. Saw many teenagers come in and pick up 7-8 different things just for the amusement. Hee hee hee. They didn't have any money, at least not for my stuff.
DURING THE MORNING, the crowds were slow in arriving. A typical Sunday. In the afternoon, there were less people than Saturday. There appeared to be a little more bodies in the food area.
SALES WERE MUCH LESS for me on Sunday. Actually, I was down around 75 percent and that is terrible. Vendors made little money on Sunday and I guess, some of them were lucky to make their expenses. I imagine that sales were better on the main street toward the middle of the event but that's a little above dreaming. Many stroller pushers and smaller kids.
HATS OFF TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS AND ORGANIZERS OF THIS EVENT. You all did a fine job and as a vendor, I appreciate that. Only thing is that you can lead the horses to the water, but you can't make them drink it. People were holding onto their money. Too many booths. I shall not be returning next year. I'd like to return to Clovis on this particular weekend for Big Hat Days but expenses for that event are too high. $450 for a 10x10, $150 for 2 nights in a motel and $70 for gas. Throw in a bad economy where people just aren't buying and it's just not worth it.