Craft Shows Tutorial Part 1: Finding Craft Shows and Applying

What is a craft show? 

A craft show is an event offline where you can sell your products. Craft shows happen at a variety of places from local schools to concert venues. A craft show can last 1 day (or a couple of hours) to a couple days. Craft shows vary in how much they cost to attend, how many people go, what other events are happening at that craft show and how big the overall event is.

Finding Events 

Start off by looking for craft shows in your local neighborhood. If you live in a small town, look for craft shows at the nearest big city or in neighborhoods nearby. Look on Google and offline such as in the local newspaper. Here are some other places to look online:

Etsy Teams: There are usually Etsy teams for different locations. Etsy teams in your area will usually post about upcoming craft shows and other opportunities.

Craigslist - Craigslist is a good place to look for craft shows. I like to set it up on IFTTT so it automatically emails me if the keywords "Etsy" or "craft show" are used in a post.

FestivalNet - This site is good for finding festivals in your area such as craft shows, art festivals and art shows.

The Indie Craft Show Directory - This site will help you find indie craft shows in the United States and Canada.

CraftLister  - CraftLister has festivals, fairs and craft shows. They also have a list of artists and vendors and lots of good information.

Find a Craft Fair - This site makes it easy to find craft events. They also have related sites to find bridal shows, computer shows, music festivals and more.

ArtFairCalendar.com - ArtFairCalendar is free to join. You can find juried art and craft shows.

Fairs and Festivals - This is another site where you can look for different craft show events. They also have articles and resources.

Art Fair Source Book - This site allows you to buy a source book that is the "definitive guide to the best juried art and craft shows nationwide". You can try it out for free and then decide if you want to subscribe.

Sunshine Artists - Sunshine Artist brings you a comprehensive list of art and craft shows throughout the United States and Canada. You can view the date, name and sometimes website for free.

Festivals and Events Search - This site has thousands of festivals in North America ranging from major national/regional events with up to 1 million visitors to small local events with a few thousand.

Pricing 

Vendors usually have to pay money to sell at a craft show. Pricing varies for different events. If you've never done a craft show before, start with an inexpensive show first so you get experience. How much money do you expect to make? You want to make sure you're making enough money selling items to cover the cost of the craft show. Small craft shows cost about $20 while bigger craft shows like the Renegade Craft Show can cost $300 or more. Bigger craft shows are also hard to get in to because they are usually juried which means they don't accept all applicants. Start with non juried shows and then work up to bigger shows.

Calendar

Keep a calendar or planner and see when you are free to attend craft shows. A lot of craft shows happen on the weekend. There are more craft shows around big holidays such as Christmas when people are out shopping more, but events happen all year. Think about if you'd rather do an outdoor or indoor craft show (there will be more outdoor ones in the summer and warmer months), Also, think about if your products would sell better at a certain time. If you sell items that have a theme of love and romance, a Valentine's Day craft show might give you more sales.

Applying

Now that you've found some craft shows you want to apply to, find the application for the craft show (usually available on their website). Give a good first impression. Most applicants will ask for basic info like your name and information on your business. If the craft show doesn't accept everyone, they will usually want samples of your work. Make sure you are showcasing your best items and have good photographs of your items. If you don't get accepted right away, just keep applying! Sometimes, craft shows are looking for a certain type of business and your shop just may not have been what they were looking for. Some craft shows have an application fee in addition to craft show fee so make sure it is worth it to apply for the show. Smaller craft shows usually accept most (or all) people so you should find some craft shows to go to.

Part 2 will cover what you should do once you are accepted to a craft show!