December 20. This is only the third time we
ever did an event this late in the year. Previously we had done
the late Etta Lewis' Arts and Crafts shows at a mall in Redwood City
(five day show until Christmas Eve) many years ago and the weather
was despicable. Matter of fact, we never made much money at
any of her shows.... Antioch Rivertown Jamboree (mid-90's) and a
mini-mall in Dublin in 1994 where we had to endure 106 degree
temperatures.
Fortunately, we had a nice break in the weather,
allowing us to sell at the Chabot College Flea Market in Hayward. We
arrived there a bit on the early side and it is now a good idea to do so
as the parking spots are not as wide as they used to be. I have a small
Windstar van and it fits within the two spaces with about 1 1/2 feet to
spare. Pity me if the people on the left and right of me both arrived
before I did.....then I would have problems squeezing my van in there
AND pulling out the 5-foot high/long grids from the pack would be
impossible,
In case nobody noticed, the spaces now run
north-south instead of east-west. Maybe the weather gods will find this
to be more favorable to them. Or maybe the money gods figured they could
'squeeze' in more spaces and improve their cash flow.
It appeared like they only used about half the
parking lot for the booths as not that many vendors would brave the
December weather and were fearful of rain. Sales started off very slowly
as it was a late crowd that arrived. My hands were long-frozen, quite
cold from the 35 degree temperatures we had during the early morning.
Most of the vendors probably arrived later than usual preferring to stay
under their warm blankets at home. I guess there was a decent crowd that
stopped by the Flea Market and bought a lot of lower-priced items....$1,
$2, etc. Since our items are new and many of them were created by us, we
did not do so good. The vendors with the 'closeout bought' groceries
appeared to do the best. At 2:45, we began packing and were gone by 3:30
as were a good number of other vendors. Fortunately, we did not do one
of our 3-hour setups for this shortened selling day.
If you are interested in selling at the
Chabot College Flea Market
visit their website, where you can get info and download the forms.
