We arrived in Brooksville yesterday morning in the rain. The drive down from Ocala was short and uneventful, and we arrived in good spirits, despite the rain. After checking in, we were led to our site for the duration of the show. We are parked in a grassy field, directly across from the entrance to the Vendor Tent, about 100 yards away.
After getting the motorhome set up, we made our way over to the tent and began to set up our booth. The booth configuration we are using is something I thought up before we arrived here. I came up with a configuration which provides us with a "corner booth", even though we do not have a corner.This is new for us, and we will try it out to see how it goes. Stay tuned for a final critique of this setup.
Looking back over the last couple of shows, Fort Myers was a good show for us. We will certainly keep that show on our schedule. Ocala, on the other hand, was not so good for any of the vendors (that we spoke to, anyway). That show (Ocala) opened last Thursday, 1/28. Traffic was pretty good, but nobody came to buy anything, so we had a "slow" day. In the end, we covered our booth and camping expenses, but nothing else. The rest of the show went downhill from there! In fact, on Saturday, a day when every vendor expected things to improve, the rains came. By early afternoon, it was raining so hard that they closed the gate and people who came in were allowed to enter for free. The show coordinator came to each vendor and told us that we could close down our booths if we so desired. Since water was dripping on our products from a couple of holes in the tent, we decided to close up. We were out of there by 2PM. We hoped that Sunday would get better, but it was soooo cold that not that many people came out, and those that did were not spending. Bust!!! As a result, we will not do the Ocala show again.
So, now we are in Brooksville, FL, at the FMCA Southeast Area Rally. We have decided that we really like doing the FMCA rallies. We went to a "pot luck" supper last night, sponsored by the Family Vendors Chapter of FMCA (of which we are new members, since Fort Myers). That was a great time. We met lots of other vendors and got lots of valuable feedback on other shows, in addition to having some good "comfort food". Tonight, we were invited to another dinner meeting with the Professional RV Vendors Chapter of FMCA (of which we have been members since Farmington, NM, last October). After a short meeting, we were treated to some very tasty sandwiches, potato salad, cole slaw, chips, etc. Again, we met more vendors who imparted more information about shows. As a result, we are now considering changing our show schedule for the coming months so that we can do more FMCA rallies.
Please be sure to check out the photo albums below. I have included photos not yet seen from Fort Myers, and from Ocala and our set-up here in Brooksville. I certainly hope you enjoy the photos.
Here are the links to the web albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/FortMyersRVShow118242010?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/OcalaRVShow128312010?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/BrooksvilleFMCARally2372010?feat=directlink
2 comments:
OK, checked the pictures of several shows, lots of pictures of Chuck in the Booth - only one of Cathy's Back! Whatsupwiththat?
I have known you since 1969 and cannot believe how you always make such a success of what you do. Your booth is fantastic and I am anxious to hear how the new design works out. There were quite a few dip vendors at the major Virginia Beach craft show right after Thanksgiving and not one had a booth as wonderful as yours. Steve and Sherry must be very proud of you. We sure are!
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