2006 Show Reviews


Jan 20-29	Tyson Wells Sell-a-Rama	Tyson Wells/Quartzsite, AZ
Feb 11-12	Lake Havasu Winterfest	Lake Havasu City, AZ
	A nice show with quite a few vendors. Sunny, but extremely breezy. If you are on the 'sun' side of the street, it was warm. However, if you are facing the other side, it's quite cool. Snowbirds and residents attend this festival.
Mar 10-11-12	Chandler Ostrich Festival	Chandler, AZ
	OSTRICHES DO NOT LAY GOLDEN EGGS!!!! The biggest disaster I have ever seen at an event. The Phoenix area had a drought of 144 days until that Friday. Began raining Friday night and didn't stop until 5:00 Sunday morning. Booths were located in a gully and they were flooded with A FOOT OF WATER!!!.	Motor homes parked in a field which became inundated with water and mud. Many vehicles stuck in mud and some had to be towed out. Fortunately we managed to move our motor home out late Sunday afternoon. One big %$#@% disaster. 4-5 years ago this event was held out on the streets....I suggest returning there to avoid this happening again. Don't know how often it rains here, but when it does, the area floods!!! The show has a carnival and that's where everybody heads on Fri night. Good entertainment usually on Saturday with a good crowd (but this year, rained out). Type of music played on Sunday brings in a non-buying. no pesos--whoops..I mean no money crowd. No money for sure!!!
Mar 18-19	Jackson Dandelion Days	Jackson, CA
MY REVIEW	Weather is a major issue with this one. Done it three times and twice it's rained. This year, decent weather...however, we did have hail on Friday. Very weird setup procedure. Have to wait in a lot a mile away until they call you down. However, the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing and it becomes quite disorganized. In 2005,we were plauged by torrential rains as a RIVER of water came running through our booth. It's a decent show if you can deal with all the little issues that pop up. Inexpensive to do and you get a lot of vendors at this show. Few other shows to do this time of year.	I've been located in the BofA parking lot and you have to wait until the lot clears before you can come down and unload. Could be very difficult getting in and out. Very congested area. If you are located on the Main Street, your booth is slanting down the street at maybe a 20 degree angle?
April 1-2	Big Hat Days	Clovis, CA
	Lots of vendors spread along 6-7 blocks. The weather cooperated. Had been raining all week, stopped on Friday evening. Began raining just as we were leaving on Sunday. A bit cloudy and a little cool, but nice.
April 8	Los Banos Street Fair	Los Banos, CA
	Fortunately no rain this weekend. A pleasant one day show - held twice during the year. Not truly great for sales, but a decent filler show. Lots of flea market atmosphere and less booths.
April 15-16	The Craft Fair, Casa de Fruta	Hollister, CA
	They have re-done the area and it's very nice. Lots of construction over the past couple years and it has become extremely difficult to set up and take down. This year it rained like holy hell on Sunday and there were areas of standing water that had accumulated.	This show was halfway decent when Casa de Fruta held an egg hunt. However, that has changed and the crowd you get is definitely not a buying one. They come by the busloads...not to shop at the stores, not to eat at the restaurant, etc. They all get off the bus and run straight for the toilets and get back in the bus.
April 29-30	Cherry Blossom Festival (space #1)	Cupertino, CA
	Very nice setting for a festival-Memorial Park across from DeAnza. Weather was decent, but have had rain in the past, since it's April. Less people this year and I think that this show is on the decline. Great promoter...Jeff Cambra (Festival Productions).	In previous years, there were a lot of Japanese attending this show. However, I do believe that they were distracted by another larger show in S.F. Area demographics are changing. They've been hit hard by high-tech companies moving out of Silicon Valley. This area once was prosperous.
May 6-7	Ceres Street Festival	Ceres, CA
	This is our longest running show. Great booth location. Decent buying crowd. Slacked off around mid-afternoon. I guess there were perhaps a dozen or more less vendors this year.
May 13	Windsor Festival	Windsor, CA
	A nice little community event. Was surprised at the number of familiar vendors at this show. Booth spaces are congested. Weather was great. Must hand-truck over to your booth.
May 20-21	Hughson Fruit & Nut Festival	Hughson, CA
	We've been doing this event for many years, but may not return in 2007. Might be time to move on to the Oakdale Chocolate Festival.	Friday setup is mandatory. We are from the Bay Area and heading down 580 on a Friday afternoon is truly a nightmare. 20 miles of bumper-to-bumper stop and go traffic. Unnecessary. Too much paperwork also, etc.
May 27-28	Mushroom Mardis Gras (tentative)	Morgan Hill, CA
June 3-4	Patterson Apricot Fiesta	Patterson, CA
June 10-11	Fiesta Filipina	San Francisco, CA
	Best Filipino event in Northern California. Huge crowds on Sunday. Nice entertainment. Show held in Homeless Park (Civic Center Plaza). Weather was partly cloudy. Can be cool and windy at times.
June 17-18	Red, White & Blues Festival	Monterey, CA
July 2-3-4	4th of July	Mt. Shasta, CA
	nice show....parade, etc. large crowd. Great views of Mt Shasta at end of our street.	People have vacation homes up here and this is a beautiful area. Very peaceful and relaxing.
July 7-8-9	Cornfest	Brentwood, CA
	Large crowd. Hot weekend...temps in the mid-90's. People mostly sat/stood in the shade drinking their beer, eating food, listening to the music. Long hours. Left in darkness...had to drive the dangerous, curvy, Vasco Rd across to Highway 580.
July 19-24	Jackson County Fair	Central Point, OR
MY REVIEW	Very hot here. Not a good venue for vendors. We were in a sandy area near the aquarium. Was told that we would get a lot of 'foot traffic' from their and the ampitheatre. That's all it was...very few people interested in the vendors. Our things were filthy from people kicking the sand around. Some vendors were hostile...parking lot attendants & others were UNINFORMED and provided deceiving information. 108 degrees people...108 degrees. THAT'S 108 DEGREES TWO YEARS IN A ROW. Very unpleasant.	Located near Medford, OR. along Highway 5. People only bought beer and food. Rides for kids were located on scorching blacktop. This place is hot. How hot is it? In 2005, a local radio station actually went on the air telling people not to go to the county fair because it was too hot. Idiotic, huh? Show ends nightly at 11:00 and you get to your motor home around 11:30. Their security guards ZOOMING around on their carts hassling people about turning their generators & air conditioning on (trying to cool off) for a short period of time. The show is over at 11:00PM people and we need to cool off our motor homes. Also, they were YELLING into their walkie-talkies waking people up. Sickening. Madness.
July 26-30	Coos County Fair	Myrtle Point, Oregon
Aug 6	Street Fair	Morro Bay, CA
Aug 12-13	Stockton Barrio Festival	Stockton, CA
Aug 19-20	Hayward Zucchini Festival	Hayward, CA
Sept 2-3	Millbrae A&W Festival - did not participate.	Millbrae, CA
	read my comments
Sep 2-3	Mountain Peddlers Fair	Oakhurst. CA
MY REVIEW	A decent show with medium-sized crowds. Always warm here in May & September. No Carnival this year, so that provided less of a distraction. Click here to see great deals on wrap-around skirts
Sep 9-10	Castro Valley Fall Festival	Castro Valley, CA
MY REVIEW	Event was moved to the street, which was significantly better than in the Village. Better crowd flow. Good crowds both days. However, overcast both mornings.
Sep 16-17	Cambria A&C Show	Cambria, CA

Sep 23-24	Pan Asian Polynesian Festival (Filipino)	Marina, CA CANCELLED
	This show never got off the ground. Poorly organized. see comments
Sep 23-24	Clovisfest	Clovis, CA
	Pretty decent event. Hot air balloons went up at 7:00AM. Weather was nice...temps in the mid-80's with little wind. Six booths behind us were broken into overnight though. The crowds come out for events here in Clovis, but dwindles considerably after 1:00PM, as the day heats up.	Look for us in Clovis in April for Big Hat Days and again for Clovisfest in September. We were located in space A-28 for this event and hope to retain that space for Big Hat.
Sep 30-Oct 1	Seafood and Art Festival	Monterey, CA
Oct 7-8	Morro Bay Harbor Festival	Morro Bay, CA
Oct 14-15	Bass Lake	Bass Lake, CA
Oct 20-22	Harvest Days	Vacaville. CA
MY REVIEW	Event held at Travis Credit Union Field...a ballpark. Wow. Hopefully the show will be held in a different location next year. Very poorly set up with extremely poor traffic flow. Vendors: be aware that their are insurance difficulties...especially for those with food. You can sign up for two weekends in this event. However, if it remains at this location, I'd stay the heck away from it.	Visitor info: quite spread out. Cute pumpkin patch for the kids, etc. Very few food booths and everything else quite spread out. We were lucky that there was an Octoberfest concert going on about 100 feet from us that did create foot traffic. These people really have a lot to learn about putting on an event. Seems to me that there are a number of people involved and they each have their own idea on how the show is to be put on.
Oct 29	Los Osos/Baywood Village Octoberfest	Baywood Village, CA
	A nice little show, but not a lot of money. The crowds come out, but just to enjoy the day and to walk their dogs. It would be nice to catch the tourists from Morro Bay, but they don't come here. All local crowd and they are just hear to socialize.
Nov 4-5	Holiday Bazaar	Orinda, CA
MY REVIEW	this was the 31st year for the show. Can't understand it. The communitiy did not support this show this weekend. And the few that went there, did not buy. Your community center provides many services, etc., for you and your children and when it came time for you to support them, you didn't.	We were located outside in an area with 10 other vendors and people just didn't come out there. Vendors: Do not do this show. It's pretty bad. Weather was nice and the crowds were very small. Best November weather I've seen at a show. Worst two days of the year for sales. Figure that one out.
Nov 10-11	Holiday Crafters Fair (in pavillion at S.J. Flea Market)	San Jose, CA
MY REVIEW	Vendors: If you don't sell funnel cakes, fudge or coffee, stay away from this declining show. 38 booths this year. These people do not have money to spend and they expect Flea Market prices. Totally suckarooski!!! We declare this show to be the worst of 2006.	Many vendors just sitting there with absolutely no action Sat or Sun. Saturday rains kept people away from the flea market in general; however, larger crowd on Sunday, but quite disinterested in what was being sold. Car sales area in back of pavilion prevented crowds from entering from that area.
Nov 18-19	Mountain Mandarin Festival	Auburn, CA
MY REVIEW	The shows have slowed down since October and I can blame the gas prices, declining home values, a hopeless war and people realizing that even after the elections, we are still screwed. People are uncomfortable with the economy and not buying. The crowds did come out on a beautiful 65-70 degree sunny weekend. However, not a good buying crowd and a huge portion of the vendors did poorly. If you don't sell Satellite TV or spas...forget it. Zillions of mandarin vendors also. Located at the fairgrounds and there were three buildings located on different levels of a hill, along with booths placed outside around them, etc. We were slanted on a hill.	Worst Service award for 2006.......went to the Sierra Grill Located at 13360 Lincoln Way in Auburn. Very, very poor service. After being seated, we had to wait 20 minutes for a waitress. I had to go to the cashier to ask for one. After waiting 40 minutes for our order, I asked for the manager. He told me that the waitress had walked out. I then saw another waitress carrying a tray with our order, not knowing what to do with it. She was very confused. Our steaks were very dry. Another couple (vendors) across from us (who arrived after us, waited on and served before us and long gone by the time we received our order) said their prime rib was pretty bad. So people, stay the hell away from the Sierra Grill in Auburn
Nov 27	Street Fair	Morro Bay, CA
MY REVIEW	Show held downtown. Beautiful weather during the AM. You can count on three things in life...death, taxes AND the clouds rolling in during the afternoon in Morro Bay. Medium-sized crowd...told it was less than last year. Buying was sporadic. Click here to see the ideal place to buy shoulder bags.	A nice coastal town. Many attractions, etc. in the area also...Hearst Castle, Pismo Beach, Cambria, etc. Great fish & chips at Giovanni's. Try their Halibut & Chips or Clam Chowder. Click here for map & info.
Dec 2-3	Holiday Faire (Waterfront)	Suisun City, CA
MY REVIEW	A very nice community event. The crowds came out. 2-8:PM. 20 vendors...only two food plus Kettle Korn. Boat parade, fireworks, carriage & pony rides, entertainment, Santa, etc. However, not great for sales as the people just did not come here to buy. My advice? If you don't sell Kettle Korn, don't expect to make very much money here. Quite a bit of jewelry. However, Debbie did a great job with the booth arrangement and did all she could. The weather 'cooperated'. A sunny day, breezes died down after 1:00PM and no rain. Can't beat that.	Waterfront area has great possibilities, but businesses are moving out and I guess this area does not draw people, etc. Sandwich shop has closed. Two plots of land have been fenced off and it looks like there might be construction there....however, with adjacent empty storefronts, I don't think that there's much hope for this area. And of course people, don't forget to shop at www.dandlcreations.com
Dec 8-10	Fourth Avenue Street Fair ('The Parking Lot') Space A11	Tucson, AZ
	This lot is located at the corner of 4th Avenue and 5th Street. Previously run by 'Jaime'. Probably upwards of 200,000 people at the Street Fair. A small percentage enter the area. I counted 80 out of a sampling of 500 during the early afternoon. 50 booths bunched together and lots of smoke from the Tri-Tip BBG grill permeates the area. Sales were somewhat dismal for virtually all the vendors in this area and I doubt that many vendors on the street were making a lot of cash. Do not expect to make a lot of money in the Parking Lot.	The weather was beautiful for this event and I guess locals come out here for nothing more than a weekend stroll. Friday sales were the slowest of course and the 'family-working class' attended on Sat/Sun. The artwork out on the street was pretty nice, but a very cheap crowd. I noticed that 80 percent of the people kept at least 5-10 feet away from the booths and one's visiting 'The Parking Lot' made quick strolls with small amounts of people stopping to look at what was being sold.


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