Hi Hello!
Yesterday was the first of three First Thursday markets. You can read more about when I got accepted here. Anyone looking for my post-market thoughts? Keep on reading, friends.
There were about 20 vendors, give or take a few. From what I could see from my setup near the end of the line (spots are first come first serve and I showed up at the end of the setup window), there was a good variety. I kept seeing cake pops float past my stand (yum, need to find those next month), candles, books and their authors (including a new author friend of mine that was set up next to me), and even other yarny makers!
This is a free event that the city of Groveport puts on. It’s even free for the vendors that sign up, which is truly amazing. Even the small little farmer’s markets I’ve signed up for in the past have a vendor fee associated, so having this be free was phenomenal. It ran from 4:30-7 and there was a steady stream of people from start to finish.
Quite a few people stopped by my booth to say hi, and I got business cards in a lot of hands, which was great. One of my most exciting stoppers was a 10 year-old and her mom. The girl wanted to stop and tell me how much she liked my work. As we talked, I learned that she had been crocheting for a couple of years. She and her mom had picked up a few kits at “like Wal-Mart or something” and tried to learn together. We laughed together as mom told me she gave up really quick, but something clicked in her daughter, and she had been crocheting ever since.
She told me her favorite project that she’s most proud of is a stuffed bunny with no eyes. I asked for a picture, but unfortunately they didn’t have one. It was really refreshing to see someone in a younger age class than me picking up this dying art. So often I get strange looks from people because they think crocheting is a “grandma hobby”.
I only made one sale – a rainbow monkey that I found in my craft room as I was gathering my stuff to take. So many people looked at him and picked him up, before someone grabbed him toward the end of the event. Typically, when I hardly make sales, I get discouraged. This time, I had a ton of fun just talking to people and being outside on a beautiful (albeit hot) day. It was also nice to be surrounded by fun vendors. I was chatting with the girl next to me about knitting and crocheting, and we started talking about my knitting machine beanies, which brought over another vendor from the next row who specializes in knitting machines. She gave me a lot of great advice on how to use mine and she even connected me to a knitting machine group which will hopefully help me get past the annoying learning curve that knitting machines have.
The vendor next to me was a children’s book author. We actually made a trade, a book for one of my items so she could give it to her daughter. The book I picked up was “There’s a Spider in My Bathtub” and April even signed it for me! It has such gorgeous illustrations and a cute lesson. She told me that it was supposed to be for ages 4-8, but I think this one specifically can be good for younger toddlers as well. I would highly recommend it.
I learned a few things throughout this market. A lot of my wearables didn’t get much attention. People gravitated more toward the plushies/stuffies, and my AmongUs crewmate got a lot of attention. I think in my preparation for next month, I’ll focus more on stuffies, and maybe crank out a few more hats (I did get quite a few comments on having beanies on display. Maybe as we get closer to fall they will do better).
I was also pretty disappointed in my (lack of) planning in regards to my sourdough. I had zero sourdough items on my table. My plan was to dehydrate some of my starter and include a way to rehydrate it. I was going to spend yesterday during the day dehydrating and grinding and bagging, but I started reading that it takes 24+ hours in order to fully dehydrate.
Oh well. You live and you learn. I’ll be able to plan better for next month! I’ll also be trying to get there a little earlier to set up. The spots, like I said earlier, are first come first serve, so getting there at 3:45 means I’m in not a great spot. I’m also going to work on my table setup to make things a little easier/better to see.
The next First Thursday is happening on July 6, 2023!
Anyone wanna see my table setup?
As y’all can see, I have a little bit of everything. I’m hoping to scale that down a bit. If you can think of anything that could make this scape a little better, feel free to drop a comment! If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for spending a little time in my corner of the internet!
The Mediocre Homemaker 