Thursday, November 7, 2013

Fishguard Festival

We arrived at Fishguard reasonably early, about 8:45, it was already raining steadily, so it was a bit of a rush to get all the stuff from the car to the table. The tables were set up inside two adjoining marquees which proved a little impractical as the inner sections of the roof funneled water right into the covered area, apparently the company had omitted to place the guttering!

Once we had set everything up a few visitors began to drift around the 8 or 9 tables and peruse the various items, but the conditions were far from ideal and a warm hall just yards away with the rest of the festival beckoned temptingly and folks did not hang around for long.

Still we managed to stick it out for a couple of hours, at which point, "H" the photographer next to us announced his stuff was now getting wet too, and was abandoning the event before he lost any more to the now sodden interior of the marquee, we were a little more fortunate in that the incessant drips were at least not hitting any of the display, though my cardboard boxes I used to carry stuff were beginning to look like they would be hard pressed to contain a polystyrene ball without falling apart they were so wet on the bottoms.

All credit though to Michael, the event organizer, as he quickly made alternative arrangements for the exhibitors under the now useless marquee, to have access to a separate room inside the building, warm and dry!  In a flurry of activity kindly assisted by staff members and other stall holders, we all managed to move our stuff and tables to the room and eventually got re-established and set up ready for the rush.

Unfortunately, the rush failed to materialize and although we had a steady flow of people they were very much in dribs and drabs with a good 75% passing right by without a second glance, so as such the footfall was pretty light and sales were matched. Nevertheless, this was the first time that Fishguard had tried including crafts at this event, it primarily being a food oriented affair, so no doubt many visitors arrived, not expecting to see the crafts.

We did get some very nice people visit our table though and most were nicely impressed with the selection and quality of the items, many took business cards which could possibly lead to sales a little later.

I would definitely attend the event again though, it's very rare for a first time thing like this to run smooth and successful, and I am sure a few lessons were learned by all that will go some way to making next years festival have a greater potential for success. I would like to thank the "Spirit of Enterprise" team and Michael the organizer for the opportunity to attend and display our creations. Thanks folks!


Jen manning the table in the tent.



Shot taken by "H" Cheers!

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