Outdoor vs indoor shows

[homestylecharlie]

This past year I started indoor shows, mostly at schools. I'm going to do some outdoor shows for the first time next year, and besides being outside in a tent, I'm wondering if there are other differences I may not be aware of to consider? Is dirt/ mud a major issue (I guess it depends on rain). Any tips to help transition to selling in the great outdoors?

[Former_Member]

Charlie, check out the Team Cliff Notes:

https://www.etsy.com/teams/8070/craft-fairs-its-a-living/discuss/15922297/page/1?ref=team_page

Lots of great information and posts. Also, just scroll though some of the most recent posts. I know for certain that not a week goes by where we're not discussing canopy's, which one's to buy, how to do outdoor shows, etc. There's tons of information available all over the place.

[stringnstone]

Charlie, your glass is beautiful... the one thing I would worry about with your product is wind... sometimes the jewelry displays go flying in little puffs of wind at outdoor shows.. there are a few glass people in this group that are super knowledgeable about doing shows.. good luck and I will be shopping in your shop soon.

[Winterwomandesigns]

A few things I learned...
Outdoor shows are definitely dirtier! There is a fine layer of grit on everything after an outside show.
At my first outdoor show, which was held in a parking lot surrounded on 3 sides by buildings, I started to put up my tent's solid walls, thinking the white walls would set my items off nicely. The folks in the next tent over suggested that I don't do that - the walls would cut out any breeze and my tent would turn into an oven. They were right.
Tie down any tall displays. Those same nice cooling breezes can blow down tall displays, even ones that seem quite heavy. I keep a few lengths of light cording in my show supply box for that purpose.
There are more people just looking at outdoor shows.

[JustMeToo]

I wish you the best of luck with outdoor shows! I gave up on them many years ago,because of WIND and dust! My items are all fabric though, so it's a bit different! If it rained (or HAD rained) everything was damp and I had to unpack everything again at home and spread it out to get the damp out!
Since you have a different product, you will probably have other obstacles to overcome, as mentioned above, but there is a ton of good advice on this team to make it easier!

[TigersandDragons]

-Dirt/Dust is an issue, especially if there is a breeze. At one show I used to do, we would spend an entire day afterwards cleaning each piece of jewellery, wipe all lamps, and have to wash all fabrics, including those inside our display frames (where jewellery was pinned).

- As others have mentioned, your display has to be secure in case of wind. All our displays are clamped to our table. If it's really windy, I have to double pin (pin at top and bottom of the card) earring cards, so they don't flap around in the breeze.

- Tent weights are SUPER important, t least 30-45 pounds per corner of the tent.

-You need to have a good canopy and be prepared in case of poor weather. Sometimes there are light rain showers, or a heavy rain comes in near the end of the day, so I check weather forecast constantly and have my tables set up inside the tent so they are somewhat sheltered from rain angling in from the front or side.

- Have your own power source if the show has long hours and goes into the evening. You can do a search on "battery" or "outdoor lighting" and there is lots of info. in these threads.

Outdoor shows definitely have their challenges. But if I didn't do them, then I would very little money from May to August....that's outdoor show season here in the Canadian prairies.

[PrairiePrimitives]

Some outdoor shows are on paved parking lots; others are in fields or grass/dirt/etc. If you have the misfortune to loobe signed up for an outdoor show on grass/dirt/etc. on a rainy day, at least your stuff seems like it would be easy to clean up.

[ImLaughingMyGlassOff]

Nothing sets off glass like sunshine. And dust comes off with windex. But the wind can be scary and you'll likely have some losses to breakage.

But it's fun and the direct feedback is awesome.

[homestylecharlie]

Thanks everyone for the advice. It certainly helps to plan what I need to get ready.

[Former_Member]

Charlie, here's a suggestion that I wish somebody had given me before I built my tent weights. I built our weights using 4" PVC pipe, 4 sections about 3 feet long each with 4 end caps for the bottoms of each pipe (to keep the concrete from flowing out the bottom).

I filled each with concrete and at the top, I had large eye bolts embedded into the concrete with several large washers and bolts at several inches apart. The concrete surrounds the washers that are bolted to the eye bolts, the concrete sets, and now the eye bolts won't be able to pull out of the concrete.

So, I searched Google, got several ideas, put together a parts list, went to Home Depot, got the PVC pipe, had the pipe cut, Concrete, Eye bolts, Washers, Bolts to keep the washers in place, etc. I took everything home then started construction. I got the wheelbarrow out of the shed and started mixing concrete, filled each pipe, stuck the eye bolts in at the top, set them up straight & level then let them harden. They look great & definitely work very well.

Here's a pic of the weights, along with plastic painter sheets I had over our canopy at this outdoor festival, because it rained and poured all day:

https://www.facebook.com/SweetAirSoap/photos/a.606396106092733.1073741826.430439667021712/7699618397...

BUT, they're a pain to lug to shows. They're heavy, fairly large and I typically can only carry 1 at a time due to their bulk.

IDEA!! (not mine, I got this from looking at another vendors setup at an outdoor show). This is why I'm always preaching in here to the newbies about taking some time to walk the show if possible, to check out other vendors displays to get ideas for our own displays.

At an outdoor festival, the vendor directly across the street from us took a much easier, much simpler approach. Instead of spending all the time researching, gathering parts and then constructing 4 weights, she simply went to the sporting goods store & bought 4 Hex Dumbbell weights. The hexagon dumbbell's are flat on the bottom, so they won't roll around. They're much much smaller than my weights, AND, they have built in carrying handles to boot. I could carry 2 at one time with those.

So, for all the time, expense and work I did to build those weights, I wish I had just bought 4 - 40lb hex dumbbells instead. Much easier, simpler, cleaner, smaller and easier to carry.

[JustMeToo]

Mike. When I did outdoor shows, I filled 4 pails with cement, with a large eye bolt stuck in the top, one for each tent corner. They worked great! The eye bolt was a great "handle" to carry each one from my van. I carried two at a time. There's no getting away from the weight. Whatever you use will be heavy - 40 lb. hex dumbbells are still 40 lbs each :)
This subject reminds me again that I'm SO glad I stopped doing outdoor shows, and needing that sort of stuff! I sold my canopy, as well, to make sure I'd never weaken and be talked into another outdoor show. I'm old, crabby and spoiled now, lol.

[Former_Member]

Carol, it's not the weight per se', it's just that my weights are kinda bulky. I could carry 2 - 40lb hex dumbbell's with no problem, since they're small, have handles built in and I would balance myself out with having one in each hand.

What I have started doing is sometimes I can drag 2 weights to our set up area, as long as it's on grass our soft ground. I have these rubber straps that stretch a little bit, they have S hooks on each end. Once I get the weights attached to the canopy with my adjustable straps, I use one of the straps for each weight, wrap it around the weight and tent leg to steady the weight so it stays still. I'm basically attaching the weight to the tent legs for stability.

Since those rubber straps have S hooks on each end, I'll sometimes take a strap, hook both S hooks to the eye bolt, which then gives me a kind of handle. I can do this for 2 weights at a time and either carry/lift them or drag them to where I need to get to. It's a workable solution but the dumbbell's look to be a much more elegant solution! lol

[homestylecharlie]

Thanks for the tips. I was looking at plans on building weights, but it makes sense to use the hex weights...a great idea and thanks for passing that along.

[PrairiePrimitives]

I've made 2 sets of PVC weights over the years. The first time was a messy job with mixing concrete, etc. The second time, I found Quickrete where I just dumped some concrete in the capped pipe, added water until it came to the top of the pipe, waited about 5 minutes with bolt in hand and a dowel to hang it from ... SOOOO much easier! They only get used a few times per year, if that, because California weather is pretty darned nice during outdoor show season. The first set cost me about $25 and about half a day, the second set cost about $35 and maybe an hour of time.

BTW, for anyone reading this ... get the cheap flat caps for the PVC ... they're maybe $1 each (possibly less) vs. the $7+ rounded end caps Home Depot will try to sell you.

[Winterwomandesigns]

PVC pipe weights - this won't work for everyone 😉, I skipped the messy concrete and filled mine with old bicycle chains 😊. One chain doesn't weigh much, but 20 or 30? those suckers are heavy!

[WhimsyBits]

I did the pvc pipe weights too. they are definitely a little more difficult to lug around and pack away so that they don't damage other things. You can't stack them.... they roll around....
They're only the most convenient because you can keep them flush with your poles so you don't have to worry about people tripping over them lol
And I always used jumbo zipties to attach them so i didn't have to worry about them falling off.

[TigersandDragons]

I like the nylon weight bags we bought off Amazon, then filled with Pea gravel (placing a plastic bag inside first).

These velcro to the legs of the tent (plus you hook them from a string on the canopy) which keeps them out of customer's way. But they are a bit of a pain when you close up the entire tent for the night. If we had tight fitting tent sides, it would be more of an issue. Since we use tarps for sides, there's some more wiggle room in there.

[ImLaughingMyGlassOff]

I have 4 hex weights at 25 pounds each and the nylon bags from Amazon that Tigers is talking about. Then I have 5 gridwall sections attached on the back corners that must be another 50 pounds. I thread bungee cords through the bags and around the weights and up to the canopy and use the most obnoxious duct tape I can find to make them secure and visible.

[homestylecharlie]

Thanks everyone! I think I'll try a combo of these and see what's going to work for my setup, since I haven't decided on a tent yet. It would be great if they made a square version of PVC pipe, that way it wouldn't roll!...maybe a section of vinyl fencing? Seems like a browsing trip to the home improvement store is in order!

[Former_Member]

Charlie, it's only when you lay the PVC down that it rolls, lol. Since you'll have end caps on the bottoms, that keeps it fairly stable while standing vertically, although I also use the stretchy rubber straps to secure each weight to the tent legs.

The rolling around can be somewhat of a pain, but that's not my biggest pain. It's that in order to get enough weight (for us 40lbs per weight), the weight that you need to make will be a bit large/tall. They're just bulky. When you combine bulky with heavy, it's just more difficult to deal with.

The 40lb hex weights are much smaller by comparison, much more compact, take up less room, won't roll, have handles built in to carry, lots of advantages IMO over my handmade PVC weights. My PVC weights work very well, look nice and all, but like I mention in here all the time, I like to check out other vendors displays at every show to get ideas for our display.

It was during one of my reconnaissance walks where I saw that another vendor was using the hex dumbbells and it was one of those "duh" moments, lol. Like, why didn't I think of that before? The PVC weights are cool and all, and building them sounds very interesting if you haven't done it before.

It's only after you've been lugging them around for a couple years that you start looking for alternatives. Trust me on this, take a serious look at the hex dumbbells & save yourself a lot of time, effort & aggravation.

[BlueHandsBoutique]

My first show was outside and the weather was 100 degrees plus storms. My silk scarves were not a great match for storms even with a tent. The bigger problem was having to tear down and set up three days in a row as there was no security. This year I tried barns for 2 festivals but people were not buying in Sept. from anyone unless it was food or outside lawn decorations, some toys. Dust was a problem. Inside shows are better for me...good luck.

[CoquetteBath]

I don't do outside shows.

first, I don't have a tent and I'm not interested in getting one.
second, even if I had a tent, putting one up solo ain't easy.
third, when outside, you are in the elements. Rain, heat, wind.
fourth, when at an outside show, people bring their animals. Having seen dogs piss on table coverings more than once (when attending)...no.
fifth, did I mention I'm in Texas? We have really 2 seasons, mild and blistering.

and there are more. But I've also found that most festivals don't provide enough for me to make it feasible.

but every one has a different surroundings. And everyone has different requirements and expectations.

if they work for you, then do them! If I had more help, I'd probably consider a few. But as I don't...I don't.

[JustMeToo]

Cari. I agree. I did some outdoor shows many years ago. They are horrible! I stopped doing them a long time ago, and have no regrets. I only do indoor shows as well. I like my stock clean and dry, and not blowing all over the street. I hated them.
Some people love them. I can't imagine why, but everyone is different, and, as you say, have different expectations.

[BabyBliss7lbs]

I have done both. I did have my tent blow away because I didn't have weights on it so it is very important to weigh your tent down even if its in the grass!!. I enjoy indoor and outdoor. I haven't done a show in years, but Im going to do my first one again in May. Super excited. :)

[ImLaughingMyGlassOff]

I do enjoy outdoor, probably because my full time job requires me to be indoors all summer long!