WINDOW DRESSING

My fellow Vendors, have you ever felt like you are 'window dressing' at a festival or a show, etc.?  Sort of like when you walk down a street for of stores and shops and you see one highly decorated to draw you inside.  But when you get inside, it's nothing like you imagined.

So, as this pertains to shows.  Occasionally we end up at a show where the placement of vendors (with their attractive) canopies) was more of an afterthought or having vendors there in order to draw visitors into the event.  You know, take a higher priced event.... maybe a music festival where the entry fee is $20.00 and quite naturally people are not going to buy.  However, the appearance of 20 to 40 or 50 canopies dotting the landscape,  packed with goods entices people to think that this is a really good event.  What would this show look like with all these canopies and just a music stage.  We are just, more or less, 'window dressing.'

Take the Russell City Blues Festival in Hayward.  (Yah, you can take it, all right).  Entry for visitors was high and so was the food, which left very little for the vendors, who are not going to get patronized.  However, the sight of all the canopies improves the 'quality' of the event.  And of course, at $300 a pop, these people are making an extra $8000-$10,000.

How about the Chandler Ostrich Festival in Arizona.  Look where the booths are situated.  Down in a gulley out of the main flow of traffic.  Very low percentage of attendees stroll over there as they are more interested in the food, carnival rides and other events going on.  Imagine what this festival would look like without the vendors canopies highly visible?

This is not the case for ALL festivals though.  There are a good number of highly successful music festivals, etc., where everybody benefits.  Another one that comes to mind is the San Jose Jazz Festival.  It is wide-spread throughout the area with vendors in many different areas.  It's a very poor setup and few vendors will make any money.  But the appearance of the vendors' canopies enhances the event. Maybe this might be more of a case of the promoters not really having a clue, but think again before you do this one.

There are many events out there where the inclusion of vendors is just merely window dressing for that particular festival.