I haven’t done very many craft shows this fall. Dunno if it’s my energy level, or just not enough time, but I haven’t had the excitement about getting out there this fall. However, there’s a couple that I always try to do — they’re tried and true, and always bring me some business, along with giving me the chance to talk about my images. That alone’s worth the price of admission sometimes!

Today was the show over in Belleville, and I usually get a fair amount of traffic, and a fair number of sales. Today though… nothing. Not a single sale. It’s the first time I’ve been skunked at any of these shows.

I knew times were tough, and I changed what I brought with me to cater to that — smaller pieces, all unframed, with lower prices than I’ve typically run, and yet still…. nothing sold! It wasn’t just me either. The other vendors had the same problem. There just weren’t very many customers through the door, despite a lot of good advertising by the organizer.

I’m beginning to wonder if it would make more sense for me to focus on the gallery (I badly need to get new material up there), my web site (badly needs work), and some of the bigger juried shows in town. Those shows still seem to be drawing, as does the gallery, so those would seem to be some good points of focus, as opposed to schlepping my wares across a 50-mile radius of the house. Even if I sell one or two items at those little shows, I’ve still got to think about the gas, effort and time involved in doing them. If the sales aren’t there to make the event worthwhile, then I need to rethink where my focus is.

Man, I’ll be glad to see the economy turn around!