Reviews 2007-2008

I have been providing reviews of my shows for the past several years. All the vendors do have bad shows and a huge majority of them just accept that fact, and move on to the next event. Occasionally, vendors go through some very tough times and run into promoters who are unorganized, greedy and deceitful. Okay fine...you do an event, you don't do good, etc. and you just don't return the following year. There's a lot of events out there to do. However, if there are problems with the shows, I like to let other vendors and individuals know what is happening. Sometimes, I really do get to the point and explain the cold, harsh facts and need to get down and dirty occasionally. Have fun reading these. Be sure to check out my full reviews on a number of shows in STARVING VENDORS.

Western Artists and Vendors is my blog about festivals, vendors and loads of miscellaneous info and resources. Interesting reading. My other blog about sports teams in Boston.... I AM THE BOSTON SPORTS NUT.... Loads of information on Boston sports teams.! Also, Starving Vendors a website about the trials and tribulations of being a vendor.

Oct 11-12

Monterey Columbus Day Festival (Custom House Plaza)

Monterey, CA

see my full review for this event

Perhaps the worst show I ever did in Monterey. Pretty disapointing for sure. Very small crowd the entire weekend and not too many tourists. Perhaps the economy to blame. Heavy winds were forecast for Sunday, but didn't come. Stayed behind with the people, I guess. A couple booths broken into. Somebody obviously taking a 'behind the scenes' interest in sunglases.

Oct 4-5

Homefront Festival by the Bay

Richmond, CA

see my full review for this event

The second year they had this event. Nice community oriented festival which has a lot to do with Richmond's efforts during WWII. A bit windy....4-5 canopies toppled over early Saturday morning and we had to endure rain showers on Saturday. Attendance was far short of the 10,000 people they claimed in Craftmaster's. Vendors did very poor here and we will not be coming back next year. Visitors had free admission and didn't want to spend any money. Organizers did a great job putting on this unique event but people just not supporting the vendors. Had to watch out for the local riff-raff, who attended the show to brush up on their trades...stealing and using phony credit cards.

click here to see my full reviews of this event

Crowds seemed a bit down from past years and sales substantially lower for most of the vendors. The weather was nice...a bit cloudy in the morning. The third year that the festival was held out on the Boulevard. Jeff & Jerry Cambra (Festival Productions) are the best promoters around and their setup/takedown procedures go like clockwork. Mimosas on Sunday. We had a problem with the Pallen Martial Arts School which had a booth next to us. They were doing demonstrantions and soliciting in front of their booth and they continually blocked the front of my booth intentionally. Disgusting. The food was okay and the Italian Sausages were great.

click click click here to see my full review

Terribly HOT on Saturday; little cooler Sunday. Nice show if you are attending it, but if you are a vendor, forget it, do something else. Quite a few people and we did get some sales. Not acceptable for the crowd they had there though and the booth fees are WAY TOO HIGH. $300 for a space. Spread out quite a bit and most of the people just walk on by, heading over to the food and entertainment and could care less about the vendors. Invisible? Don't really recommend this event and I have no plans on returning next year.

Click here for complete review

This is a nice event and they did draw quite a bit of people on Sunday. However, sales were slow each day. 30-35 booths set up in parking lot and there was a pretty decent selection of merchandise, but browsing public, tourists, etc., just mainly not interested. Buses stop here, but 90 percent of the occupants use the bathroom facilities and we can not count on then for sales. Mike did a good job getting people here and presented a pretty decent event....but people are just not buying...mainly just walking around out of curiousity.

For a complete review, check out STARVING VENDORS

Show on the decline. Promoter says they were missing 35 booths/vendors. Looks more like 135. Empty spaces all over the place. Really need something to beef up this event. Bad. Terrible. Used to bring in 40,000 bodies for this one...now? They claim 22,000. I say less than that. Bunch of riff raff walking around. Music does not bring in people...subpar. I only do it because I live a couple miles down the road. Poor sales for me and mostly everybody else. Rate this one 1 1/2 zucchini's!! Local food is great outside....Caesar's Chicken, London Fish & Chips, Sam's Burgers. Best on the west side of Hayward.

What more can I say about this doozey!!! Absolutely horrible for many vendors. These oversized, overstuffed people just are not buying anything except food. Diet pills could sell pretty good here. Two-pound burgers would sell good; any kind of food does good here. Devour, Devour. Hate to be mean, but this is the worst county fair that I have ever done. Vendors are sitting in front of their booths just shaking their heads. You've got some wise-ass punks walking around here, thinking that we are just here for their amusement. CAUTION: Vendors, do not ever do this show. You will not make any money. This is the harshest warning I have ever given on a show. Many hours pass without sales for anybody. People do not G.A.F. Please check STARVING VENDORS to see a daily log on this and when your CRAFTMASTER NEWS comes out listing the Douglas County Fair in Roseburg, OR next year, scratch it out.

This was our second year at this event and our last. I just can not take the wind. Four days of very strong winds. You really have to be tied down for this one. Sales were okay on Saturday, but on Friday and Sunday, very poor. Not too many tourists, but I saw a lot of cars parked at motels. No idea where these people are going. Nice location for an event, but just too windy for us. Look for me at the Cottage Grove (OR) Bohemian Mining Days next year.Starving Vendors Review

A very nice July 4th event held in a very scenic area. They really came out on Friday and the place was alive and buzzing. People were buying. However, Saturday and Sunday.... a completely different story and it did not even seem like the same event. Weather was beginning to warm up. July 4th was very pleasant and over the weekend, temps increased. Will be 107 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday. Going to be hotter than.... uh uh uh. Lots and lots of clothing in our area. Starving Vendors Review

FOOD: The lemonade was delicious and refreshing, but was $3/$4 a glass. Halfway decent Philly Cheese steak for a festival-can't match up against the Eastern powerhouses. Snow cones were so-so...not enough flavor added. Tostada okay. Italian Sausage was okay, but I have had better ones.

Held at Serramonte Mall. Ugly day...cloudy, overcast, cool, breezy. A pretty darn ugly summer day in Daly City, which is nothing new for this area. The show was bad. Had to use their booths and they had no security. So, we had to pack up our merchandise and decided to pack everything in. Another doozey!!! Please refer to my comments in This aint Paradise blog where I have written extensively about this event. You can also read a detailed review in Starving Vendors Review

Local flea market for us. Just needed something for a day. Held in parking lot along Depot Road while parking lot construction goes on in theold lot. People lost, disoriented. It was kind of spread out with vast emptiness between rows of booths discouraged much walking. I think a number of vendors were not located by 'regular' customers. They will have the Flea Market on this lot for 2 more months..at least. To me, I don't care. Sales weren't that great....but flea markets just don't scratch the surface for me!!!! Heck...rate this 2 fleas.

Held at the Veteran's Memorial parking lot on Main St. Very slow weekend and no influx of tourists. Mike had a full complement of vendors...about 40 booths. Many with exceptional art work. People just not spending nor are they coming by. Cloudy and a bit cool on Saturday; On Sunday, the clouds disappeared around 11:00 am. a bit warmer, but windy, as usual. We'll rate this one as two cups of noodles.

Appreciated the great weather over the weekend. Crowds were down the entire weekend from what other vendors told me. Not a good show...some sales. People that came mostly watched the entertainment and strolled in around the booths. Would never travel more than 30 miles for this one. No lines at the food vendors. Only line was for the shaved ice. Kids were very naughty!! Lets give this show a rating of 3 peanut butter sandwiches.

Very nice weather this time with temps in the low 80's and a very pleasant breeze. Decent crowds on Saturday; substantially lower on Sunday. Many vendors did pretty decent on Saturday and darn lousy on Sunday; just like Ceres when we were there last month. The Chamber of Commerce needs to listen to the vendors. They moved a huge number of vendors to an adjacent street and sales were down for all of them and it was difficult for our returning customers. Funky hours!! On Saturday, the event ran until 8:00, forcing vendors to sit there for extremely unnecessary long hours AND with very, very few sales after 5:00. On Sunday....get this... they had us open up at 9:00. Now, seriously in all the shows that all of us vendors have done, how many people come out on Sunday morning between 9:00 and 11:00. Had garlic fries on Sunday; "where's the garlic". Lockeford sausages are still great. Had a Philly Cheesteak and it was bland...absolutely no taste to it.

Very, very hot. 103 degrees, but fortunately a breeze during the PM. Crowds much lower than past years'. Not much buying from the vendors. Usually a very nice show. Sunday was wikedly slower and less people. Still pretty darn hot. Reports of some vendors being down 80 percent...whoa!. Perhaps people are 'boycotting' the festival because Hershey's Chocoate moved their factory to Mexico or it could be the economy, etc. Lots of people here without jobs, I suppose. Food and drink lines were VERY SMALL throughout the day... usually from 11-2, it's packed butt to butt!!!! Reports from the Hughson Fruit and Nut Festival are depressing. They fenced off the festival area and are now charging $2.00 per head. Vendors closed their booths early. Mid afternoon-late PM it was a ghost town.

I was completely blown away by this one. Only two real vendors, the rest food and NP. A lady asked me 'how come there aren't more vendors'. All the vendors (2 of us) will not be returning next year. Not much of a choice of events this weekend for vendors. WATCH OUT FOR FLYING CANOPIES. The canopy next to us blew completely over. Got to secure those canopies, people. Half-mile from the ocean and you knew it. Quite a bit of sun though, but a bit cool and windy at times. On Sunday, it was cold...very cold and extremely windy ALL DAY LONG. Not many people; hardly any buying. A fellow vendor was told that the attendence for the event yesterday was 13,000. Only saw maybe 600-700, so that means that we ARE MISSING OVER 12,000 people. Has anybody seen them? Did they drown? Did they get blown away with the kites? Hell, I never saw them.Truly, one of the worst shows I have ever done Thank gosh I didn't have to 'motel-it' for this one.

.This is a small-town street fair that draws good-sized crowds from surrounding towns. I really praise the promoters of this event. This is a very smooth-running event which is always enjoyable to do. It was a little warm over the weekend and somewhat breezy at times. However, over the years, we have had temps up around 100 and super-hot; have had rain and even a Sunday completely rained out a couple years ago.Decent crowds and they were buying (on Saturday). Food booths run by non-profit organizations. Perhaps 100 vendors; quite a number of returnees. This was our 13th year here...our longest running event!!!! Very well run; very organized. Other promoters should take notes!!!! Smaller crowd on Sunday and they didn't bring their money. Probably something to do with the position of the earth, moon, sun and Pluto, I guess. Back to cheap ass Sundays. A good number of vendors still struggling. I recommend that other promoters, Chambers of Commerce come here in 2009 and take notes and learn how to run an event.

VENDOR ALERT I was given a phony $20 bill at the street fair. BE AWARE!!!! INSPECT $20 BILLS CLOSELY and $100s, $50s. USE THE MARKING PEN, IF POSSIBLE.

Great weather. Fewer attendee's than previous years. Entertainment was okay and came to hear/see them play the large drums. Majority of the food booths was volunteers and served up various Japanese foods.. However, there was a smoothie booth there and their drinks were delicous. I had a pina colada and I wish I would have brought a small bottle of rum with me. Very refreshing. There had to be at least 30 fewer vendors this year, as there were NO vendors on the far side where food was located. Some people had preferred to be on that side though and probably lost customers, but no big deal. Seemingly, vendors that had to travel out of town were the one's missing. Fellow vendors just are not traveling far to do shows anymore, as expenses continue to mount to astronomical proportions and I had better take heed!!! One can now expect virtually every event to be losing high percentages of vendors who have to cut expenses and eliminate marginal shows. Perhaps, fees for some shows could be lowered to attract vendors. We need a break!!! Poor shows like Pizza Festivals, Ripon Almond Festival, need to be eliminated.

**** PROMOTER Festival Productions was in charge of obtaining and providing vendors, etc for this event..Jeff and Jerry Cambra & family (Festival) are perhaps the best of the promoters and do their utmost to provide us with a successful event.

LOUSY, COLD AND WINDY!!! WHERE'S THE PIZZA? There were perhaps 4 booths selling pizza and these were of a 'chain' (Boston, Domino's,etc.) variety.There were a few vendors that did great and those are the ones that sold kid's stuff or had rides for kids. 90 percent kids. Parents could care less...a slice of pizza for the kids and nothing else. El suckarooski!!!! There were around 50 booths, but only 5-6 actual vendors. At first, I wondered why. Now, I know. PEOPLE...DO NOT EVER DO THIS SHOW!!!!! A community gathering, but undeserving of actual vendors who would like to show a profit.

Weather great...too hot? 90 degrees? vendors arrived early for this one in anticpation of early lookie-loos. Crowds were much smaller than expected in mid-morning. Not great for sales. Not too many vendors made much $$$. When I checked in, they did not have me listed on their vendor list. Had to wait 10 minutes for them to get a space for me. Three blocks of booths. Nice to have it end at 4:00. People just out for a Saturday stroll. As for this show, take it or leave it...just a fill in for me.

Weather was great. Big crowds, they came out for this one. Show is over-priced for vendors. A lot of people did Manteca's Street Faire, but I would stay away from that one. They added more booths (again) this year in Clovis. We were located all the way at the end of Section J here in Clovis, but that wasn't too bad. We will not be returning in September for Clovisfest, but the cost of doing show down here is getting pretty high.

nice weather...uh...nice weather...uh nice weather...uh..nice weather This is a nice place to take the famiies, etc., on weekends. Great improvements here, especially for shows, etc. However, crowds would be larger with more advertising, but nobody is spending money. Recession. The store is expensive though.

On Fri, rain stopped at 10:00AM. Show started at 12:00. Small crowd until 4-5:00. Mostly teens just hanging around, etc. On Saturday, it was 'WATCH OUT FOR FLYING CANOPIES'. Very strong winds through much of that day sent a number of vendors packing. Gotta secure those canopies. 6 vendors located in the back row of the booths on the ball field and they caught the brunt of the wind, Isn't it nice to do a show where the promoters don't go around and tell vendors not to do this, don't do that....sorry but this is not one of those shows. Promoters hassing a few vendors....can't sit on the sidewalk, can's sell this, strict on electricity. Who the hell is going to pay $60 for 6 hours of electricity?

PRICE GOUGE OF THE MONTH Since this event ran into evening, they charged you $60 for an electrical connection. You only needed it for 6 hours total on Fri/Sat. Ten dollars an hour? No thank you. Oh what the heck.....let's throw in the fact that they were charging vendors $100 for insurance. Didn't get me on that though, Starving Vendors Review

Really nice weather for the entire weekend, Cold morning though...Saturday in mid-20's...COLD!! Huge turnout for the event, but people just came for the event and not to buy. Nice parade on Saturday..gunfights, etc.Monday's sales were terrible and the show offically ended at 1;00pm. Hardly anybody walking around. Absolutely unnecessary.

Turned out to be a pretty good event for us. We were selling a product the RVers, etc. wanted (and needed) and that worked out. However, quite a number of vendors did not fare so well due to the economy, etc.The weather was nice until the second Friday. Intermittent showers during the early morning probably kept a lot of people away in hopes of better wetter further into the weekend. Saturday crowds were low and sales disappointing. Sunday was a washout....rain, rain, rain. We packed up late morning; others left earlier, some later and many were going to due the next event and would tear down on Monday.

Two blocks with around 60 booths. The weather was surprisingly mild while parts of California were taking a beating from major winter storms. Nice January show, but I don't think that anybody made huge amounts of $$$. On Friday, mostly snowbirds with little money left over from gas fillups. A good turnout for a Friday. Saturday's crowd was moderate and a little younger. Sunday's crowd was small and cheap. Nice to end the event at 3:00 to give vendors a good start on the road. There were 4-5 food booths there, but my favoite was Zemer's Root Beer, which I have enjoyed for years. You can buy a mug and use it the rest of your life for re-fills of Root Beer, slush or RB floats. Great stuff.

This was our first time here in 13 years. One of the better flea markets around. People not really looking for new items, of course. Quite a few vendors....lots of people desperate for money. Good turnout; nice AM weather, but cloudy and cooler during the early PM. If you get there before 6:00 and aren't familiar with the layout, it's kind of difficult finding your space in the DARK.

Wow...what a weekend. Dismal Dreary and Disgusting in Dingwell's Den. Rain in Tucson? Oh my gosh. Downright ugly weekend. Rain on Fri & Sat; wind; sand blowing all over the place. Our last time in Tucson. Just too far to go for so little in return. If I want torture, agony and disgust, I'll just stay in California. Very bad weather. Had some decent traffic flow in the lot when not raining, but people just kept their hands in their pockets and could care less...simple as that. Amen. Good bye.

CITY REPORT - Tucson What a dump. Sorry people. Highway 10 is a #($#$ mess Many exits and entrances blocked off. Huge metal fences around homes; bars on windows; no windows on bars. Motel 6.....clanging pipes. Major defects. Don't stay there. Good rates, but problems sleeping. People...you need to stay away from here until 2011. By that time, the highway work might be pretty much completed; major repairs done to this Motel 6. Motel 6 has decent rates for us vendors; but I would not stay here if Tom Bodet lowered the rates to $13.95 per month.

Actually I think that they put on a pretty nice event for the locals. Quite a number of people came out on a cold, windy day. They had approx 35 vendors, 5 food booths. Entertainment, bonfire, boat parade, fireworks, etc We did somewhat okay. Some of the vendors did pretty decent; others terrible. Many of the visitors completely ignored the vendors....like we were..uhhhh invisible? Progressively got colder as the day wore on. Had to run over to the bonfire and stand next to it for 15-20 minutes to unthaw. Our coldest event of the year, Not too many choices of shows to do this weekend.

Held twice yearly (Aug/Nov) on Morro Bay Blvd and Main Street. The weather was fair...cloudy all day with temps in the 50's. Only problem....located on a hill. The people came out for this one. Instead of having booths west of Main Street, there are now booths on the north side of Main. Traffic flow was good. We did somewhat okay; others did good, some...well, you know.

I no longer recommend Giovanni's down on the water. Second time in a row the same lady screwed up my order. I noticed that she undercharged me for the halibut & chips, so then she said she thought I wanted the 'fish&chips'. I told her no. My order came 20 minutes later. Looks like she 'forgot' to put it in. And I ended up with the wrong order. So much for them. DO NOT GO THERE. POOR SERVICE.

Really nice weather with temps up around 70 both days. They had quite a few people come out for this Some vendors did poorly, some okay. As for us, we had a very very bad location and did poor. TAKE A LOOK AT OUR LOCATION AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. Will not be coming back. Absolutely no traffic flow until 1:00PM on Sat. It's all about location and that we did not have. Took our money and ran!!!

This is a nice event held at the fairgrounds. Approx 110 booths inside 3 buildings and 15 booths outside. This was our first time there. Crowds were okay for Friday, a bit less on Saturday and Sunday even less than that. Weather was somewhat cloudy on Friday; rained off and on during Saturday and on through the night. Mostly sunny on Sunday. Two canopies collapsed from rain that accumulated on top of them. A good majority of the vendors did not have great sales and all of us are going through some really tough dollar times. People in this town are not known as big spenders. Thank gosh they had a flea market a couple blocks away on Saturday to give the riff-raff someplace to go.

MEDICAL ALERT!!!!!

bought a Philly Cheese steak from the vendor inside the building. Actually, It didn't look good to begin with. The meat was extremely dry and chunky and the cheese looked sickly. It couldn't have been very fresh.

I am from back East and I've been eating Philly cheeses for 45 years and this is the worst one that I have ever had. Around the middle part of the afternoon, I was sick from it and running back and forth from the restroom. I'm sorry people, but that's the only thing I had to eat and it made me sick. You'd better be cooking fresh food and not letting it sit around for days. IT WAS BAD. We ate some of your breakfast platters on Friday (eggs, pancakes & sausage) and that didn't look too healthy either. Eggs were brownish looking and the size of a quarter, the two sausages were burnt.

Please read my review of this event in Starving Vendors. Event held at the Community Center. Absolutely beautiful weather with temps in the 70's and sunny both days. Where are the people? Obviously Orindians are not interested in this and could care less. I feel so sorry for the promoters of this event. They try so hard to put on this event. I'd really love doing this eventm again, but it's just so agonizing because the people of Orinda snub their noses at this community event. Just about all the vendors did poorly. Poor? How does $0 for two days sound for several people. We did very poor but not that bad. People in this town are well off but they most certainly do not spend their money here. For sure. You have a very nice event here and you don't give a hoot. What do you people do on the weekends? The organizers put on a very nice event, but you bunch of losers aren't the least bit interested. CITY OF ORINDA.....consider yourselves MOONED!!!

THINGS THAT PEOPLE IN ORINDA SPEND THEIR MONEY ON.....	Mocha Java, tennis balls, viagra, late fees for the library, bottled water, flashlights to stick on top of their heads while jogging at 6:00 in the morning (yes...I saw it myself), psychiatrists, coffee enemas.
AWARDS:	Starving Vendors Soiled Canopy Award (2007) to the citizens of Orinda for their support of vendors.
WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE?	Stuck in Traffic in the Caldecott, library, Rite Aid, kids events, at their chiropractors, Aruba, looking for America, birdwatching

Superb weather. However, the promoters screwed up and provided me with a canopy which I did not want. We ALWAYS use our own and it's too hard to set up in theirs. So, they put us over by the water, but I don't think that made much differenct. People were tight. Very nice place to do a show. Could be foggy, windy, etc., so you need to be prepared. Quite breezy during setup Friday afternoon.

The weather was great, fortunately. Last year it rained just as the festival ended on Sunday. Never know, this time of year. Sales were somewhat slow for everybody. Event is several blocks long with lots of vendors, etc. Expensive show to do, especially if you have to 'motel it'. Of course, the high price of gas doesn't help much either. Everybody has been affected by the economy. There were some vendors that did okay, but the rest of us continue to be hardcore members of 'The Starving Vendors Association' and roll with the punches.

Wow. THIS IS A CARNIVAL which just happens to have 25 A&C Vendors on the other side. There were a few vendors that did okay. They had some traffic flow through the area, but people just were not stopping to buy. They weren't even looking and the vendors were 'invisible' to them. They would rather spend their money on the carnival and food, etc.

This was a local show for us and we will never do it again.'I don't recommend it for anybody...except those selling toys! Their submission to Craftmaster's News stated that they get 100,000 for this event. HELLOOOOO and that is DECEITFUL on their part!!!. No way. It rained on Saturday and the weather on Sunday was fair. However, no..absolutely not!!! 30,000 is more realistic. They dream about getting 100,000 for this. If you have toys, etc., and your booth is located in the Carni area, you would do fine. However, expect to do long hours on Saturday over there.I left the area on Sat AM and when I tried to return, they had massive areas blocked off for their parade and it was HELL trying to go around. Had to park 1 1/2 miles away. They blocked off the streets EARLIER than what was stated.

I cringe when I hear about festivals in Cupertino. The ONLY decent one has to be the Cherry Blossom in April. This show is absolutely horrible. Nice weather and held in a park (not Memorial Park). Crowd came just to watch the entertainment and eat, eat, eat. Long hours for this show....10AM-7PM on Sat... should end at 5:00. Had to haul in at least 50-60 feet. UGH!!!! Too old for this stuff. Our first and only appearance at this festival. I guess this is the first year for this particular one. They used to have an Octoberfest in Memorial Park, but did away with it. This event is bad. Very few people buying...even though booths were in quads, the setup was disastrous ..rides, food, entertainment on one side of the park and that is where people went. Nobody has money here!!! There were a small handful of vendors that did okay, but overall, this show was 'stinkarooskee'

Overcast during each morning. I think that the crowds were a bit less than last year. First time that the Boulevard was closed off completely with booths on both side. We had a nice spot, but sales down from past years. but still satisfactory.. Economy? Nice local festival and hats off to our fabulous promoters, Jeff & Jerry Cambra of Festival Productions. Absolutely the best. 'Orchestrated' a great booth pulldown in a very tight situation. Orderly and systematic.

Temps were 100 degrees each day there. Very hot and uncomfortable. First time and last time doing this event. Crowds seemed light and many people just came to look at the antiques, etc. Definitely didn't come to buy our stuff or anybody elses!!! Bad show and I don't recommend this for anybody.

Located on gravel/dirt area. There was a security guard or whatever that kep going around on his horse, which was kicking up a lot of gravel & sand all over the place...onto our bags,clothing etc. Event personnel driving golf carts also kicked up more sand and gravel. We set up on Thursday and had poor sales on Friday. When we arrived Saturday morning, we had another vendor setting up their booth about one foot in front of my selling area. This is where she was told by Diane to set up. I spoke to another vendor who had pointed this out to her but was ignorred. They will stick these booths anywhere's to make money. Many vendors came here from the Oakhurst show they used to have during Labor Day weekend. Surprise,. surprise, surprise. I know it was hot here, but I don't think these people buy anyhow. Another 'Take the Money and Run' event by a promoter. Sorry....just telling it like it is.

The weather was great for this one; people had no excuse. Less people attended this year and they came late. Very slow during the AM. Music did not bring out as much riff-raff as in past years; however, there was a bit of raft-riffing at vendors' booths as the sticky finger disease was apparent. Thank gosh the music stopped at 7:30 so vendors could (anxiously) pack up and clear out, but darkness soon fell and there were vendors still packing. No lights!!! Definitely need to finish earlier; how about 6:00? Still many problems getting vehicles in.There was a group playing 'Beatles' music' and that was nice for the crowd that was around Farewell to Wendy, who was associated with the event for several years and will not be there next year; she has moved to Oregon. Crowds watching the performances on the main stage were down; the area in front of the stage has been packed in past years and this show does not get well-known entertainers (Paul Revere & the Raiders, Juice Newton in past years' no Elvis impersonator this time). People just were not buying. I told a number of vendors that this was a good event to do. Definitely not; need more drawing power or people (who have money) need to support the vendors.

Food

Usual show food. Great Zucchini bread; I always pick up a couple loaves every year. I bought a Philly cheese steak sandwich from a vendor in the middle and it was very bad. Extremely over-cooked. Probably the worst I ever had. Caesar's Chicken, just across the street has great broiled chicken and I've been going there for many years. London Fish and Chips, located next to our store (Desirable Fashions 18884 Hesperian Blvd) has pretty good fish & chips. Sam's Burgers on the other side of Hesperian has darn good burgers.

This was the seventh and final year that we whall be doing this show. Has completely gone downhill for vendors. Five years ago, there were probably around 25 vendors. This year, only 2 remained. Several have departed for the more popular and much better Pistahan Festival in San Francisco. They have a very nice Filipino Organization putting on the event and I feel sorry for them. They put on a very nice program The weather was great...temps only in the mid-80's here with occasional breezes. There were 3 food booths and entertainment throughout the weekend. It was a nice get-to-gether for the locals. However it was terrible for us. Quite dissapointing as many of the Filipinos could care less. Teenagers were rude; younger children were mischievous and we had to either babysit many or scold them. Kids skating and crashing into our booth; kids continuously running through our clothing and out of our booth; kids running behind us, jumping over our boxes. them, as this show has dwindled.

People, please do not look for us next year over here. Those attending this fair could care less about the vendors. Sales were very low for everybody. The people in this area have an 'attitude' and I heard this from several vendors.

There were quite a few new vendors here and my advice for all vendors is STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE. Bad news!! We arrived early for this and I had huge problems getting in. Benton County Fair claimed that they sent me my 'package' in the mail and I have not received it to this day. I had not tickets, etc., and the security guards would not let me in. They passed me on from gate to gate. The office was located next to one of them and they didn't even tell me that, which would have solved the problem. However, they did have great hookups for RV's....sewer, electrical, water and cable TV. However, we were located some 20 yards from hundreds of cows and I now know that COWS DO NOT SLEEP!!!

This was our fourth year for this event. Setup was easy for us because we arrive quite early. Sales were somewhat sluggis overall. Mostly a social gathering during the evening. The people here were very nice and mostly all of the vendors return year after year and know one another. It was a nice show to do. . Weather was cloudy mostly every day and the winds picked up during the afternoon. RV hookups are pretty tight and you can either get electrical or go 'dry'.

Food	Great smoothies at 'The Blue Lagoon', a magnificently decorated booth. Thai food was the most popular here with lines constantly approaching 25-30 people. You might say that "they come for miles to eat this food" every year. Pizza was good; Philly cheese steaks were better than average for a county fair.

Always nice to visit the Oregon Coast area. Peacful, relaxing, etc. This is one of many events held here and was located in a parking lot. Approximately 60 booths. Setup was difficult, as we had to deal with high winds and very strong gusts, which were lifting and toppling canopies. First time we ever filled up six buckets with water and tied them to the sides to hold our canopies down On Friday, I thought that I was back in Quartzsite. Many RV'ers on that day and they were not spending much. I heard passers-by remark that this reminded them of Quartzsite. Weather was windy much of the weekend and we did have some rain on Saturday. On that day, it seemed like mostly tourists came by and they were purchasing. On Sunday, more of a local crowd and they had that 'oh gosh, another festival' attitiude. Nice show though and I intend on doing it again.

They really came out for the 4th. Early morning crowd because of the foot races, etc. Did quite well; crowds dwindled as the day wore on. Show over at 4:00. The next three days were gruesome for everybody. Very hot withThere were two parts to this show. Castle Street Vendors did 4 days including July 4th. On the main street, vendors set up on Thursday morning and had three days of terrible sales. Setup and takedown was pretty easy. Very nice area, but too #($*#$# hot!!!!! They said this was the hottest July 4th in 27 years. temps in the 100's Thurs & Friday. Welcome to Mt. Shasta Ghost Town!!!! Streets virtually empty each day alllll day long.

Food

Seemed to have a problem with service at local eateries here and in Weed. Went to Big D's BBQ in Weed. Had to wait 50 minutes for our take-out order and when it came, we were missing one-half of it..the chicken apparently 'flew the coop!!!" Expensive AND The BBQ wasn't worth the wait!!! Ate another meal at The Dugout in Mt. Shasta. Nice place for 'snacks' and watching sports on their 3+ TV's. However, the steaks are expensive and leave a lot to be desired. Kind of dry. Also went to Silva's Restaurant. Their seafood platter was sensational and the Veal was okay. However, their service totally sucked. Extremely disorganized.

Absolutely terrible. Where the hell is everybody? What the heck do these people do with their money? Thought the tourists would come out for this one. WHAT TOURISTS?? The locals weren't buying, that's for sure. I don't think that any vendor did well here. Almost as bad as three weeks ago. The weather was somewhat okay; sunny and temps in the 60's. However, the wind pick up around 10:00 each mornng and lasted throughout both days. Pretty bad on Friday when we were setting up. Very nice area; great BBQ over at the Main St. Grill. However, this was my last Cambria show. These people are hopeless.

Held at Civic Center Plaza. Weather was cold, cloudy and breezy on Saturday. Just two days earlier it was 80 degrees in the City. Much better weather on Sunday..not a cloud in sight-near 70 degrees. Attendance seemed down this year for reasons unknown to me. Very slow on Saturday and slow on Sunday until around 2:00-2:30 when we were swamped with people and continuous sales until around 4:30. This is a nice show though and a good venue for the Filipino community. Lots of teenagers, etc., and we got very few sales from them. Mainly a social gathering for them. I never had a show where so many people asked for a discount. Our prices are very good. Been doing this show for 7-8 years and this was the worst Saturday for us. They raised the entrance fee to $7.00 and that probably cut down on the crowd. Not too impressed with the entertainment overall. Late Sunday was pretty decent. Too many people walking around handing out flyers and other garbage, etc. Problems with T-Mobile booth next to me. Had four people in the aisleway handing out flyers stoping people and blocking 'traffic.' They even stood in front of my booth, but I immediately ADMONISHED them and strongly advised them to stay in their space. People all over the place pushing their flyers in people's faces. Radio Station KMEL had a booth there and they played extremely loud music. Sad news if you are a vendor near them. Should be considerate.

Very nice assortment of vendors (including us!) and you had a decent number of people on Saturday. However, just lookers and grabbers. Go figure!!! Hardly any buyers. Maybe just a bad weekend for shows in this area...graduations?.....Maybe mostly locals showed up and they do not buy. just don't know.Will try again here in 3 weeks. Should be a different crowd.... tourists. Weather here is very iffy. Cloudy....windy...cool...etc.

June 2-3	Patterson Apricot Festival	Patterson, CA
	Nice parade brought out loads of people on Saturday. A good buying crowd. Weather was nice, but a bit on the warm side Sunday with few breezes.	This is a pretty decent show with 2 streets of vendor booths. Entertainment and food centrally located. Booths set up in quads, which is really great. Other promoters take note!!!! 12x12.

May 26-27	Mountain Peddler's Fair	Oakhurst, CA
	'Suppose they gave a show and nobody came' was the theme of the Monday portion of this (now) 3-day event. They've had this show in this location for the past 4-5 years and it has not done well. Off the beaten path, out of sight from Yosemite tourists traveling Highways 49 & 41. Guess that everybody went to Coarsegold (up the road 5 miles and very highly visible)....cause they sure as hell didn't come here. Surprisingly, we did okay.	Crowds were also small on Sat & Sun and it was a bit warm..temps around 90 degrees (actually, I think that's a bit cool for this area?) Many vendors packed up and left after closing on Sunday and I don't blame them. I don't think that the people knew the show was extended through Monday (10AM-2PM). I knew that would be a disaster. Many vendors didn't do well and there were only a couple food vendors and no music/entertainment.

May 19-20	Oakdale Chocolate Festival	Oakdale, CA
	Warm weather. Hershey's Chocolate Factory is moving to Mexico soon and firing it's employees here. Sad. It was a good show for us, but highly disorganized. We like to arrive early to set up for shows; thank gosh we did. We were located in Space#46 and when we were half-ways done setting up, another vendor came over and claimed to also have space#46...and that's what his paperwork said. He told me that I had to move. Yah..right. Sorry. And there were other duplicated spaces also.	Porta-potties were located a couple blocks away from us. Commercial booths were located kind of off to the side...away from things. The customers that we got were ones entering from the side. People viewing the A&C, etc. just didn't meander their way over. Poor booth arrangement.

May 12-13

Windsor Festival

Windsor, CA

If you are local, just bring a table or two and plop down your jewelry and you might make a few bucks. They had a parade that lasted 1 1/2 hours and after that the people walked over to the booths and pretty much socialized. People had their pooches with them and would stop in the middle of the 3-foot aisles and let them sniff out one another.

Difficult set up. Had to park out on the street and hand-truck our things in about 50 feet. Not easy, I must say. The weather was mild and a lot of the booths had shade from numerous trees. Only 3-4 food booths and they probably kicked butt until around 1:00 when the crowds began to dwindle, dwindle, dwindle. No new arrivals during the afternoon and a lot of vendors were packing up at 2:45 including moi!!! If you are local selling your jewelry, wind thing-a-magiggers or little doo dabs, then you'll make a little meal money. However, if you are a 'serious' vendor, keep away from this one. No money here, people.

May 5-6	Street Fair	Ceres, CA
	Nice weather but a little windy on Saturday and I guess that kept the crowds down. Sales down from last year...economy...gas? Nice show though. Lots of lookie-lous.	Food vendors are volunteer organizations, etc. and it's nice that they support them and I guess this is a great fundraiser for them. However, missing the real 'flavor; of other street fairs.

Apr 28-29	Cherry Blossom Festival	Cupertino, Ca
	Very warm weather on Sat/a bit cooler on Sunday.Nice setting (Memorial Park) for a festival. However, quite spread out and a long walk all the way around. Booths clustered in three areas with wide areas between. Attendance seemed somewhat down from past years.....economy?..gas prices?....or maybe even a bit of a parking problem, since the only place you could park would be over at DeAnza College ($2.00).	I think there were a number of vendors that did okay and quite a few that didn't do so good. Missing several 'neighbors' from last year though. Promoters (Festival Productions) are the best around. Rolls, etc. on Sat AM; Mamosa's on Sun..can't beat that!!!

Apr 21-22	Good Ol Days	Pacific Grove, CA
	Partly sunny on Saturday; rained during the evening...WATCH OUT FOR FLYING CANOPIES!!!! Quite a number of canopies were toppled by the heavy winds. The weather turned out to be great on Sunday...a miracle!!!	Many booths strethcing 4 blocks on Lighthouse Avenue. Not much foot traffic where we were located...at the bottom of the hill. Poor booth arrangement left several empty spaces on our block. Did not feel like we were part of the festival.

Apr 19	San Francisco Antique & Artisan Market at United Nations Plaza,	San Francisco
	A show with 40 vendors spread about the walkway of the plaza. Weather was cool, cloudy and breezy. Everybody, Anybody and Anything comes strolling through here. People with jobs, homeless, dignitaries, tourists, ..you get the whole shibang. This was a slow day for sales and hopefully when the weather improves, people will buy. I think that this can be an enjoyable show to do. Also did this show Apr 26, May 3, May 10	The area was pretty well-packed with vendors selling a wides assortment of items..all the way from Bob Marley stuff, antiques, much jewelry, statues, etc. People tell me that sales have decreased the past couple years...perpaps because of the economy, gas prices and the war. These factors have attributed to low sales at most of this Spring's events all over the place.

Apr 14-15	Crossroads Street Faire	Manteca, CA
	After we did this event four years ago, I declared that we would never do it again. Should have kept my word. Absolutely terrible. Rained like hell on Saturday and our booth was half-flooded. On Sunday, heavy winds knocked over a bunch of canopies. WATCH OUT FOR FLYING CANOPIES!!! My recommendation: IF YOU ARE A VENDOR, stay away. If you are attending this event, BRING SOME MONEY NEXT TIME and at least look at some of the booths.	I imagine that this is their big event of the year and the weather is bad more than half the time. I don't know if very many people made money on this one. A lot of booths, but not too many people buying. I was not located in a good area and the booths surrounding me made it look like this was some kind of church or community center show. The Chamber of Commerce put this on and I will say that the setup was pretty much orgainzed. The reason they get so many vendors is because there are no other events this weekend.

Apr 7-8	Big Hat Days	Clovis, CA
	Very nice weather for the entire weekend. Temps in the 70's. Loads of people on Saturday and I think that most of the vendors did pretty decent. This has always been a good event for us and we enjoy doing it. Probably over 400 booths stretching 5 blocks. Looks like they added at least 40 more vendors. In previous years, Manteca's street faire was held during the same week and that would explain the increase in vendors. (maybe)	Sales tapered off during the afternoon. I guess people tried to avoid the sunshine, which felt pretty darn nice. On Sunday, far less people attended. Maybe 20 percent of what came out on Saturday. Reason: Easter Sunday. People spent the day with families, in church, etc. Understandable.

Mar 24-26	Fourth Avenue Street Fair (The Parking Lot)	Tucson, AZ
	It decided to rain on Thursday evening and then the latter part of Friday afternoon. Great weather on Sat & Sun. Lots of people attended this event, but buyers were few for everybody. We had pretty good traffic flow in The Parking Lot, but slow sales. We did somewhat okay and will return in December....but probably won't be here next March.	vendors: I wouldn't recommend traveling very far for this event. Not too many shows to choose from this time of year and the weather in California is iffy. Fourth Avenue resembles Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. The economy is somewhat down, gas prices are up, etc. and people are not spending their money.

Mar 10-12	Chandler Ostrich Festival (Brown Amusements)	Chandler, AZ
	Another BIG UGLY MESS!!! BIGGG RIP OFF PEOPLE...BIG BIG BIG!!!! Please be sure to read my page about the Chandler Ostrich Festival and Brown Amusements Take the Money and Run or No Sympathy from the devil.	Please check out the Crafts Fair Guide. It's pretty neat. I have subscribed to it for over 10 years now and the best thing about it is that you are able to provide comments/reviews on shows you have done. Their website is http://www.craftsfairguide.com/ You can give your own and personal review of the Chandler Ostrich Festival and Brown Amusements.

Feb 16-19	Whiskey Flat Days the story of Whiskey Flat	Kernville, CA
	Very nice event with some really great sunny and warm weather... temps in the 70's. However, it began raining early Monday AM and continued throughout the morning causing many of us to pack up and leave. Large crowds for this event. Lots going on....parade, shootouts, etc. However, motor home parking can be a problem...park on the street or at Frandy's across the river....expensive dry-camping. A bit noisy with the carnival going on and some out-of-whack music being attempted by singers worse than American Idol rejects!!! Gosh...I thought it was Karaoke, but when I got close...it was the real thing.	Many come to this area (seasonal) for an array of purposes..rafting, boating, cycling, etc. The ride on Highway 178 along the Kern Rivre was very scenic, but rather curvy. It snowed here during last years' event and you'll most likely get 1-2 days of bad weather any time you do this show (4 days). However, very enjoyable. Quite a number of bikers attend.

Feb 10-11	Winterfest	Lake Havasu, AZ
	Beautiful weather. Mostly sunny with temps in the 70's. However, it did rain for 5-10 minutes early Sunday morning but did not affect the event. Last year...cold and windy. This is pretty much a 'snowbird' show, which means that there are a lot of attendees that DO NOT SPEND money. Just out for a weekend stroll and a bite to eat. Good sized crowd on Saturday, but Sunday was a different story. Much smaller crowd.	Nice getaway event for us. Our sales were somewhat okay for this, but a lot of vendors didn't do too well. Shows in Arizona can be tough... since you don't have an exciting, buying crowd here and they do not spend much money. Virtually no IMPULSE buying. I guess if you have expensive jewelry or high priced artsy stuff, they are not going to buy. Quite a number of booths, but there just isn't enough money here to go around. Too many booths. Many 'dollar stores' and bars, etc. located within the first two blocks just about sums up the ecomomy. They are here for their $3.00 belts and $5.00 fannypacks.

Jan 19-28	Sell-a-Rama	Tyson Wells, AZ
	Pretty decent weather...except for getting stuck in snow up on The Grapevine (hwy 5) for 2 1/2 hours....torrential rain on Friday and very strong winds on Sunday. Not a great show for many of the vendors. Retirees & snowbirds all over the place. If you are selling $1.00 backscratchers, gloves, etc. then this is for you. However, we did okay with our things....so look for us in Space X19 next year. Great location.

Jan 5-7	Yuma Old Town Jubilee	Yuma, AZ
	A complete disaster. Heavy winds knocked over booths; sand all over the place. Porta-potties left unattended...no toilet paper for two days. And of course, people just not buying.	Poor booth placement by promoter. We were located far down on a side street. A very tight 10x10 space whle booths on the main street had much more space (15-20 feet) for the SAME PRICE. Heavy construction going on in the area and that made a big mess. LOUSY way to start the year.

see my full review for this event

Food	Darn good garlic fries. Some of the best I have ever eaten. Crepes.....one booth was making crepes. A bit expensive, but delicious. Good idea!!!!

Food	Try the Philly Cheesesteak Shop over in the Village. Pretty decent, but still can not compare to the 'real ones' back East. Pyzanno's Pizza. a mile or so heading east on the Boulevard has pretty good pizza. The combo is very filling and delicious.

Food	Chukchansi Indian Casino down Highway 41 has a decent buffet for a reasonable price However, this place is packed on weekends and it's hard to find machines to play.....very few video poker!!
Hayward, CA