The Winds of Winchester Bay
Doesn't that sound like a movie..... a love story?
July 18-20, 2008.Winchester Bay Oceanfest (OR) This
had to be the all-time windiest show we have ever done in our 16-year
history. I have never seen four days of wind (all day
long..relentless) like we had here. Please check our
REVIEW of this
event. We have done many shows where we have seen strong winds for
a couple hours or had gusts that have come along and swooped canopies
into the air and deposited them 20-30 feet away. But never had I
had a show where the winds would pick up at 10:30AM (you can set your
watch on this) and continue all day long, well into the night. One
thing for sure is that virtually everybody has secured their canopies
with weights, tying to vehicles, etc. Last year after we had put
up the grids around two canopies, we went airborn and landed about 5
feet over. I saw a number of canopies toppled. This year, I
heard that only a couple canopies went sailing
JULY 25. MYRTLE POINT, OR. Last night a
bunch of hoodlums calling themselves "The Pink Hat" gang robbed a
number of vendors after the fair closed down and intimidated and
threatened several other people and there was some outright
vanndalism. Supposedly a group called the Pink Hats has been been
frequenting this event and were free to road at will since there was
inadequate security at that time and poor lighting.
Where was the security force at? I have no
idea. One of the vandals was caught with drugs on him and supposedly
he was the only one taken in, because he was on parole. This whole
thing is one ugly mess. The Fair promises to have added security
next year, along with spotlights, but I am afraid that the vendors
will have to foot the bill with increased booth fees.
I never knew that Myrtle Point had these kind
of problems.
CALLING ALL VENDORS, ETC. I
would like to hear your stories about price-gouging, bad shows, etc.
happening out there and I will include this information in Starving
Vendors.
Overhead and higher booth fees hurting vendors!
June 2008. It's getting harder and harder for
vendors to participate in events. We are facing a double-edged
sword with the higher gas prices. First of all, for some shows, we
need to travel hundreds of miles to get to an event. Secondly, due
to higher gas prices, people are cutting back on what they spend.
I haven't seen a lot of promoters raising their fees...just a handful.
But, I do see them coming up with the means to extract additional fees
from us while other organizations within their communities are holding
their hands out for their takes.
More and more cities/promoters are finding ways to
take more money from you, as opposed to actually raising 'booth fees.'
I'm not really talking about shows that charge something like $100-$200
and a 10 percent commission on sales, because that is actually a very
good way for vendors to pay for shows.
But it's all these other add-ons that get me.
An increasing number of events now require you to have a 'police
peddlars permit.' I was shocked last year when I had to pay $25
for them to run a police check on me. How humiliating to be
treated like a criminal. Vendors had to provide them (the
Vacaville Chamber of Commerce) with their SSN's, Driver's license number
and insurance info. I can't really see the significance of these,
other than giving the police the opportunity to run checks on people as
they try to find offenders, runaway husbands, etc. I personally do
not take lightly to forking over $25+ to them so they can RUN A CHECK ON
ME looking for outstanding warrants, etc.
Also, there's the city business license thing where
you have to pay a certain amount to have a license to sell in a
particular community. It looks like the cities found a way to get
$25-$50 from each and every vendor and you will see this happening more
often. Expect to pay this ridiculous fee at most of your events.
there are other means by which they are extracting
money from the vendors and I will be listing these in the 'nickel and
dime crap' link in this website. Check periodically to hear more
ridiculous stories.
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Gas Prices Skyrocketing
all over the country
June 2008. Each week gas prices are increasing 6-10 cents per
gallon in many parts of the country. Shortly, it will be over
$5.00 per gallon in areas around the United States. We are located
in the S.F. Bay area and we have reached $4.61 per gallon. I saw
$4.95 this past weekend near Cambria (CA).
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Where are the tourists?
Cambria, CA June 14-15. That's the
question I had this weekend at the Arts & Crafts Fair at the Veteran's
Memorial on Main St. There were approximately 40 vendors here for
this weekend's event. Tempertures were in the high-90's thirty
miles away on Highway 101, but we had to endure temps 45 degrees lower
in this coastal community. Mike had a full complement of vendors
(again) and there were some nice art work and hand-made items selling in
the back rows.
The Central Coast area of California has a lot to
offer. Located in San Simeon is Hearst Castle and there are many
other things to see along with activities all the way down to Pismo
Beach, which offers dune buggy riding and clam hunting. Nice pier
in Pismo along with other stores to shop in. Morro Bay's
waterfront is nice with views of The Rock behind it. Great
photography, especially if you can catch a shot of the eagles nesting
there.
WEATHER PROBLEMS PLAGUE MANY VENDORS!!!
South Lake Tahoe, CA May 23-26 2008, Last week it was very hot at many of the
events. Now, more bad weather has hit a lot of the festivals once again in
Northern-Central California. We are doing a 4-day show in Lake Tahoe and have
had to deal with snow, rain, wind, etc. A very disappointing weekend, as
the weather elements completely put a damper on the event. We were located
at Millers-Y at the junction of Highways 89 and 50. The other event,a
couple miles down the road at the Horizon Casino was also disrupted by the rain. Rain is plaguing a number of events in
Oakhurst, Angel's Camp, along with many other shows. A little bit cool
and cloudy on the Central Coast for the huge Arroyo Grande Strawbendrry Festival. Very very
rough weekend weather wise.
TAKING THE HEAT AT THE OAKDALE CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL
Oakdale, CA...May 18-19, 2008. Temperatures soared
above 104 degrees in Oakdale over the weekend which kept crowds well below last
year's attendance. With the departure of the Hershey's Chocolate Factory
to Mexico, I think that a lot of people stayed away from this event, thinking
that it was associated with those terrible peope.
We were vendors at this event and our sales were way down, as were the sales of
others. Seemingly, this was not a mecca for tourists on their way to
Yosemite since the price of gas had risen here to $4.09 per
gallon. Last year the area near and around the food booths
was totally packed from 11AM-2PM. This year, I doubt that
there were lines longer than just a few people
Seventeen years ago, Ken Imhoff watched
Cannonball Run and became so enamored with the Lamborghini
Countach in the film, he hand-built his own, in his basement. In
what we imagine might be the most Jalopnik build ever
undertaken, Ken designed and fabricated his own tig-welded frame,
installed a thoroughly massaged 351 cubic inch V8 with a ZF-25
5-speed transmission, hand-formed the aluminum body over a
meticulously measured and accurate body form, and finished it all
off in a beautiful metallic gray. It took Ken 10 years to complete
the project, and the results — as you can see both in the gallery
and in the video below the jump — are amazing. There's only one
problem, when you build a car in a basement — how do you get it out?
Ken went into the project fully aware of the
problem of a getting the car out of his basement — it was your
classic ship-in-a-bottle project problem. When the faux Lambo was
complete, he actually hired a contractor to knock out a part of the
basement wall, build an earthen ramp, and then drag the car out of
its subterranean workshop.
To read more about this and see some great pictures click
here
RICH GET RICHER IN LUCKY $CRATCH
MILLIONAIRE WINS LOTTERY
If the first winner of the "$1 million a year for life"
scratch-off game seemed less than ecstatic yesterday, it's because
he wasn't exactly struggling to scratch out a living. Keenan Altunis,
33, a banker raised on Long Island and now living in London,
accepted his prize with a smug shrug, noting he's already a
multimillionaire.
"Is it going to materially change my life? No," he told The Post.
"I have been a very blessed and fortunate person." And if that isn't
an argument for spreading the wealth around, how about this: Since
he lives in Britain, Altunis, an executive at the European banking
firm Unicredit, will have to pay New York but not federal taxes on
his winnings, which means he'll net $931,500 a year for the rest of
his life.
Under a US treaty with Britain, income from lottery winnings and
several other sources is not subject to taxation for British
residents. Altunis is not an American citizen
McCain Faults Newspaper Over
Tape
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (Oct. 30)
- Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin accused the Los Angeles
Times on Wednesday of protecting Barack Obama by withholding a
videotape of the Democrat attending a 2003 party for a
Palestinian-American professor and critic of Israel. The paper said
it had written about the event in April and would not release the
tape because of a promise to the source who provided it.
McCain and Palin called Rashid Khalidi a former spokesman
for the Palestine Liberation Organization, a characterization
Khalidi has denied in the past. Both candidates said guests at the
party made critical comments about Israel
GAS PRICES GOING LOWER.
October 28, 2008. Oil has dropped to $63 per barrel as
opposed to $140 just a short while ago. With the economy getting
worse and the stock market collapsing, this will probably continue to
drop.
Hopefully, all the gas stations will be selling their gas under
$3.00 per gallon and hopefully we can get it down to $2.25. There
are numerous websites out there that list the lowest prices and I have
found an excellent one. Today (Sep 29) it shows COSTCO as being
the lowest at $2.74 per gallon, a far cry from the $4.59/gal that we
were paying just a short while ago.
To see gas prices in the San Leandro area try this website:
http://www.oaklandgasprices.com/San_Leandro/index.aspx
For the Los Angeles area:
http://www.losangelesgasprices.com/
Those are samples of what they show. To find prices in
your area, visit
http://www.gasbuddy.com and enter the
city or zip code and it will show you the cheapest in the area.
There are other websites out there that provide similar information, but
I like this one the best.
October 25, 2008
POLICE FEAR RIOTS IF OBAMA LOSES US ELECTION
Washington, October 24: : Amid rumours that
Democratic supporters might indulge in civil disobedience and
protests in case their party candidate Barack Obama is defeated in
the Nov 4 presidential polls, the Police here fear riots and are
preparing to control the same.
“We always try to prepare for the worst,” said
Oakland Police Separtment spokesman Jeff Thomason.
“This election is going to mark in history a
change in the presidency: you''re going to have a woman in the
presidency or an African American as president. I think everybody
around here is voting for Obama, so if he gets in the White House
everybody''s going to be happy. But, we’ll have our SWAT teams on
standby and traffic teams here, so if something goes off we''ll
organise and take care of the problem,” the 'Telegraph' quoted him
as saying.
According to the paper, there have also been
Internet rumours about plans for protests or civil disobedience by
supporters of Democratic candidate Barack Obama if he was beaten by
Republican rival John McCain in the forthcoming presidential poll.
Thomason said Oakland was prepared to deal
with unrest as Oakland Raiders fans rioted in 2003 following their
Super Bowl loss. Other cities that have experienced unrest include
Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia and are also planning to deploy
extra officers on election day.
James Carville, a strategist for former
President Bill Clinton and advisor to his wife Hillary''s 2008
presidential campaign, hinted Democrat supporters could be angry if
Obama lost, given his lead in the polls.
“If Obama goes in and he has a consistent
five-point lead and loses the election, it would be very, very, very
dramatic out there,” Carville was quoted as saying
September 3, 2008 Orinda Holiday Bazaar. Just
did a Google search on the "Orinda
Holiday Bazaar" and I found a couple interesting links to this
event, held during the first weekend in November. Check it out.
One is my
review about the show from last year.
And another link leading to
Craig's List "Vendors wanted for 33rd Annual Orinda Holiday
Bazaar (Orinda Community Center)'. Actually, I find that rather
humorous and if you ready my review you'll see why it is hard to get
vendors for this event. I do not want to pick on the promoters of
this event... they try so hard and do a wonderful job.
However, the problem is the people. They really didn't turn out
for the event.... and you can read my review to see what I think
happened to them... and the ones that do come, DO NOT BUY. I think
that this event has seen better days. A great idea but it just
isn't going to work out. Vendors have an extremely hard time
setting up because no matter where your booth is..inside or outside, you
are going to have to carry your things up stairs and for the amount of
money that we made last year, there is just no freaking way I will do
that.
I have several friends (vendors) who definitely will never go back there
and I know that there were vendors who 'zeroed out'...meaning they made
$0.00.
There are a number of community things happening here and there are a
number of crafters who purchase a smaller space indoors and sell what
they have made and that is probably fine. Perhaps things like hand-made
soap, bath crystals, scarfs, flashlights, sell pretty good.
However, 'professional' vendors (ones who use a canopy and sell many
things at a different show every weekend and need a larger $$$ space)
can not expect to do well here. Nice library next door and it
seems like half the people have a book in their hand or are on their way
to drop their kids off for soccer practice. You just have to read
my review on this!!!!
So, they are looking for vendors and if you sign up for it, it's just
like making a contribution to a charity. You won't make any
money. Only thing I can blame on the promoters is their selection
of music. Frank Sinatra music being piped all over the place is
not energetic, buying-type music. Puts people (and vendors) to
sleep. If I want to listen to Frank Sinatra, then I'll turn to
Channel 11 and watch America's Got Talent, ya know? There's a nice
older fellow who can really sing and sounds pretty much like him.
August, 2008. ANTIOCH RIVERTOWN JAMBOREE.
Kind of wondering if these shows are going to bite
the dust? Looks like the Antioch Rivertown Jamboree is
not around any more. Didn't see them in Craftmaster's and I
checked their website and saw this:
SORRY, but The 2008 Jamboree will NOT be hosted by The Antioch
Rivertown Jamboree non profit 502(c)3 public benefit corporation.
No great loss. Did this event 3 times over the years and nobody
buying.
Also, I noticed that they have taken the 'Chandler' out of the Chandler
Ostrich Festival and it is now merely The Ostrich Festival. Nice
to have the city of Chandler disassociate themselves from this disaster, but I don't think
that's the case. Seems to me that this event could be moving in
the future. And they think that Tumbleweed Park was a good location...
no way. Remember the flood 3 years ago. This used to hold
it downtown years ago and that was much better from what I hear. They
have a very bad location for the vendors in that park.
Probably moving to another city, I hope.
A NEW BALLGAME to get through the tough times!!!
August 20, 2008. Phasing out Morro Bay Harbor Festival and
Clovisfest. For many years, we have been participating in these
events. We have really enjoyed our trips to Morro Bay while
spending the weekend there in a Motel. We always went over to
Giovanni's along the wharf area and had some of their fish and
chips...actually I always got the Halibut and Chips, which were the best
I have ever eaten.
There's quite a bit of overhead involved in doing the Harbor
Festival...$350 for a booth space, $160 for a motel (2 nights) and
another $100 for gas. So, that's over $600 right off the bat.
Shows have been slow and vendors are not guaranteed making great sums of
money at any show and we realize that our net profit for this event
would be quite low. We decided to forgo the Festival and do a
local Flea Market on Saturday. Never thought I'd be doing Flea
Markets, but have to cut costs somehow and it looks like the net profit
from one day would be close to what would be made at the Festival.
Same for Clovisfest, which is also an expensive show to do and I
wouldn't expect to make a lot of money there....and the same would be
for a huge majority of vendors. So, we will do the DeAnza College
Flea Market the first Saturday of October and the Chabot College Flea
Market on the third Saturday of September.
Also, in order to cut travel costs, we are combining a number of shows
in January and February into one 5-week trip, doing events in Yuma,
Tyson Wells and Kernville. We have also phased out the Lake Havasu
Winterfest, which is in early February .and have found that people there
were just not spending money...just out for a stroll. It was a
nice event for us, but like so many vendors are doing, we need to cut
back on our traveling road shows!!!
Farewell to Oregon
August 7, 2008. Roseburg,
OR. Sorry to say that this could have
been our last event in Oregon. The last two
county fairs (Deschutes and Douglas County Fairs have turned our to be a
big flop. When we leave on Sunday morning, we shall not be looking
back. There were just way too many obstacles doing the fairs and
with high gas prices and purchasing power of fair attendees decreasing,
so we must cut expenses dramatically. Thank you very much to the
people and vendors of Myrtle Point. We have had wonderful times at
the Coos County Fair and we will miss a lot
of people there.
Please read my reviews and daily logs of the events we just finished,
and you can begin with the
Douglas County Fair.
BEYOND SUCK
August 6, 2008...Roseburg, OR. These Oregon Fairs are starting to
put new meaning behind the word 'suck.' Deschutes County was
extremely slow and the first two days at the Douglas County Fair have
been even worse. Sometimes I think that there is something in the
drinking water. A little boy picks up a couple of our small stools
from the bucket and sits on one of them. He gets up, folds one and
throws it hard into the bucket. "Hey," I exclaimed. "Please
don't throw them like that. You can scratch them." And then
the mother gives me a dirty look not even caring about damage the little
fart is doing to our stools. People come in here asking weird
questions. Pigs running wild into my booth. So the moral of
the story is....no money in Oregon. Green fields (somewhat), green
trees, but no green in them thar hills.
Big disappointment at Deschutes County Fair
July 30-Aug 3. Redmond, OR. This whole week was one
big nightmare... beginning to end and then trying to move on to the next
fair was one big nightmare and qualifies as one of my 'Tales
of Woe' stories in its entirety. Please read my review of the
Deschutes County Fair,
which is a log of daily mishaps, etc. I don't think I have had a
week of such disappointment, anxiety, mishaps, etc., as what we went
through. Please check out
Tales of Woe
to read more on this crazy, madcap mayhem misadventure.
