This listing is organized by the month the event takes place, NOT the application deadline. Make sure you research the show well ahead of the event date in order to apply in a timely manner. If you would like to contribute a new listing or submit your own comments about existing shows, please e-mail RVAartisans [at] gmail [dot] com.
Keep in mind each vendor has a different assessment of a show's success based on what they're selling (the medium, quality, subject matter, and price-range of their wares), intended audience, and what they consider a "good" financial take-away. Keep this in mind when assessing shows. Opinions on shows are greatly appreciated. Please e-mail or leave a comment on the blog and we'll add it to the Notes section.
January
February
March
April
May
Date of Show: May
Application Deadline:
June
Name: PHILADELPHIA PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET
Date of Show: Saturday, November 14th 2015, 10 am - 5 pm
Application Deadline: September 19, 2015 (Right now it says applications will be up soon, but there is a actually a link on the right to the application.)
Keep in mind each vendor has a different assessment of a show's success based on what they're selling (the medium, quality, subject matter, and price-range of their wares), intended audience, and what they consider a "good" financial take-away. Keep this in mind when assessing shows. Opinions on shows are greatly appreciated. Please e-mail or leave a comment on the blog and we'll add it to the Notes section.
January
February
March
April
May
Name: HANDMADE MARKET
Website: http://www.thehandmademarket.com
Location: Raleigh, NC
Founded: 2006Date of Show: May
Application Deadline:
Juried: Yes.
Booth Fee: $15 Application Fee, $85for 6' Table Fee or $135 for 10' x 8' booth space
Art Categories: Handmade
Art Categories: Handmade
Number of Exhibitors: 50+
Attendance: ?
Notes: This is their spring show, which I have not done before. See my review for their fall show in the November listings.
This listing updated: 8-26-15 by Aijung
June
Name: PHILADELPHIA PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET
Website: http://www.r5productions.com/
Location: The Punk-Rock Flea Market Dome, 461 N. 9th St. Philadelphia, PA, 19123
Founded: N/A
Founded: N/A
Date of Show: June 6th and 7th, 2015 (They also have a holiday show in December)
Application Deadline: Passed. But normally, until filled. Applications for this event went up on March 2nd, 2015 and typically sell out within two days.
Juried: No. First-come, first-served.
Booth Fee: $70 + Ticketing Fee (around $75 total)
Art Categories: Arts and crafts, antiques, vintage clothes, records, yard sale items
Number of Exhibitors: 500+
Attendence: 2,000 (?)
Notes: If you want to vend at this event, sign up immediately. It usually fills up within a couple days. This event has a broad mix of handmade art and used items. It's not just for punk-rockers, though there is definitely a sampling of that. It has more of an "indie" edge to it with lots of cool vendors. I have done well here selling my prints, zines, and cards. It's a two-day show, but vendors are only allowed to register for one day. I'd recommend the Saturday, as in the past it seemed there were less attendees on Sunday. I'm not sure how many attendees come through, but it's a lot! It's almost always packed, and it's a huge space. Sales for the summer show are not as high as the holiday show, but that is true across the board for most craft shows.
The people who run the event are a music venue called R5 Productions. Their website is a bit hard to navigate to find info on the Flea Market. I'd recommend contacting sean [at] r5productions [dot] com and ask to be added to the Punk Rock Flea mailing list.
Update 6/8/15: I just did the June 6th show on a Saturday, and my sales were down a LOT from last year. I will not travel to do the summer show again. Not sure what happened, as this show is usually consistent. There weren't as many customers and people were not as excited or interested as usual (in fact, they seemed bored), hardly even looking let alone buying. I also noticed that the quality of vendors wasn't quite as awesome as usual, not sure if this is coincidence. I know that r5 has been trying to promote other shows, so perhaps they spread themselves too thin and didn't promote this event as well, or watered down their own market. Or perhaps it had nothing to do with the promoters. Hopefully this changes in the future, but you have been warned. I will probably continue to do their December show unless this low attendance becomes a trend.
The people who run the event are a music venue called R5 Productions. Their website is a bit hard to navigate to find info on the Flea Market. I'd recommend contacting sean [at] r5productions [dot] com and ask to be added to the Punk Rock Flea mailing list.
Update 6/8/15: I just did the June 6th show on a Saturday, and my sales were down a LOT from last year. I will not travel to do the summer show again. Not sure what happened, as this show is usually consistent. There weren't as many customers and people were not as excited or interested as usual (in fact, they seemed bored), hardly even looking let alone buying. I also noticed that the quality of vendors wasn't quite as awesome as usual, not sure if this is coincidence. I know that r5 has been trying to promote other shows, so perhaps they spread themselves too thin and didn't promote this event as well, or watered down their own market. Or perhaps it had nothing to do with the promoters. Hopefully this changes in the future, but you have been warned. I will probably continue to do their December show unless this low attendance becomes a trend.
This listing updated: 5-11-15 by Aijung
July
August
Name: TRENTON PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET
Location: Historic Roebling Machine Shop, Trenton, NJ
Founded: 2013
Founded: 2013
Date of Show: Sunday, August 16th, 2015 (They do shows 3 times a year.)
Application Deadline: Passed. Sign up for their mailing list on their website to be notified of the next show, and register within minutes of application opening or you'll be left in the dust!
Juried: Sort of. You can register and pay for your table immediately, but vendors are "vetted" and if they don't fit they will be refunded.
Booth Fee: $60 for a 6' table
Art Categories: Handmade arts and crafts, interesting collectibles, independent clothing, vintage clothes, records, NOT yard sale/random stuff - from the FAQ page: "This is not your grandmother’s flea market and it's not the mall.")
Art Categories: Handmade arts and crafts, interesting collectibles, independent clothing, vintage clothes, records, NOT yard sale/random stuff - from the FAQ page: "This is not your grandmother’s flea market and it's not the mall.")
Number of Exhibitors: 250+
Attendence: N/A
Notes: If you want to vend at this event, sign up immediately. I signed up for this show at the moment that applications opened up, and it was sold out by the time I had finished registering. They allow returning vendors to pre-register before regular applications open up, but even those sold out quickly.
I just did this summer show and I have to admit it was awful in terms of sales for me. It's a well-organized, well-promoted show and lots of people came through. Many of the spots (including mine) had a hanging cloth-covered plasterboard that you could display items on. I think I might've done slightly better if my table was in the center aisle rather than the side, which has less space for people to move around. A LOT of people came through this show, but it seemed that most were lookers and not buyers (at least for me). A good number of goers were dressed up in ultra-punk attire to show off their studs and skin - and in one case, Insane Clown Posse affiliation. It is definitely more punk than the Philadelphia Punk Rock Flea Market, which attracts more of an "indie" crowd. I think my work was just not right for this audience, but if you sell very punk-related items, you'll probably do much better! For example, I saw a lot of edgy t-shirts and prints, "weird" sculptures made of doll parts, and a lot of pop culture-related items. A few other vendors I talked to said it was the slowest show they'd done of the Trenton PRFs, and that other dates were better. One vendor said the March show is her best show because people get their tax refunds back and have more money to spend on themselves, and another said the November one is best.
I just did this summer show and I have to admit it was awful in terms of sales for me. It's a well-organized, well-promoted show and lots of people came through. Many of the spots (including mine) had a hanging cloth-covered plasterboard that you could display items on. I think I might've done slightly better if my table was in the center aisle rather than the side, which has less space for people to move around. A LOT of people came through this show, but it seemed that most were lookers and not buyers (at least for me). A good number of goers were dressed up in ultra-punk attire to show off their studs and skin - and in one case, Insane Clown Posse affiliation. It is definitely more punk than the Philadelphia Punk Rock Flea Market, which attracts more of an "indie" crowd. I think my work was just not right for this audience, but if you sell very punk-related items, you'll probably do much better! For example, I saw a lot of edgy t-shirts and prints, "weird" sculptures made of doll parts, and a lot of pop culture-related items. A few other vendors I talked to said it was the slowest show they'd done of the Trenton PRFs, and that other dates were better. One vendor said the March show is her best show because people get their tax refunds back and have more money to spend on themselves, and another said the November one is best.
This listing updated: 8-26-15 by Aijung
*
Name: JACK CRAFT FAIR
Website: http://www.jackcraftfair.com/
Location: Buffalo Riverworks, Buffalo, NY
Founded: 2014
Founded: 2014
Date of Show: Sunday, August 9th, 2015
Application Deadline: June 6th, 2015
Juried: Yes.
Booth Fee: $50 for 4' half table, and $75 for 8' full table.
Art Categories: Fine Craft
Number of Exhibitors: N/A
Attendence: 1,200 for their inaugural event
Notes: I tabled at this show because I was also planning a trip to my hometown of Rochester, NY and wanted to expand my show locations (Buffalo is about an hour away from Rochester.) The show was organized well and I found some great artists at this show. There was a steady stream of customers, but I found a lot of them to be "looky loos" rather than serious buyers. A few other people I talked to said they did okay in terms of sales, but less than they expected for the amount of people there. I would agree. One crafter said she did better the year before when there were less artist booths, so perhaps there were too many booths for the amount of customers willing to spend. Artists were grouped by trade group rather than interspersed - I'm not sure if that helped or hindered anything, but it was interesting to compare the different artists. There was also an Irish Festival going on at the same event, so I'm not sure if that diluted the buying atmosphere. I would do this show again if I had a vacation to Rochester or was living near Buffalo, but wouldn't expect huge sales. It's also just their second year, so this show has great potential to gather some steam.
This listing updated: 8-26-15 by Aijung
Notes: I tabled at this show because I was also planning a trip to my hometown of Rochester, NY and wanted to expand my show locations (Buffalo is about an hour away from Rochester.) The show was organized well and I found some great artists at this show. There was a steady stream of customers, but I found a lot of them to be "looky loos" rather than serious buyers. A few other people I talked to said they did okay in terms of sales, but less than they expected for the amount of people there. I would agree. One crafter said she did better the year before when there were less artist booths, so perhaps there were too many booths for the amount of customers willing to spend. Artists were grouped by trade group rather than interspersed - I'm not sure if that helped or hindered anything, but it was interesting to compare the different artists. There was also an Irish Festival going on at the same event, so I'm not sure if that diluted the buying atmosphere. I would do this show again if I had a vacation to Rochester or was living near Buffalo, but wouldn't expect huge sales. It's also just their second year, so this show has great potential to gather some steam.
This listing updated: 8-26-15 by Aijung
September
October
November
Name: HANDMADE MARKET
Location: Raleigh, NC
Founded: 2006Date of Show: Saturday, November 14th 2015, 10 am - 5 pm
Application Deadline: September 19, 2015 (Right now it says applications will be up soon, but there is a actually a link on the right to the application.)
Juried: Yes.
Booth Fee: $15 Application Fee, $100 for 6' Table Fee or $150 for 10' x 8' booth space
Art Categories: Handmade
Art Categories: Handmade
Number of Exhibitors: 50+
Attendance: ?
Notes: This is their fall show. They also offer a spring show in May. I tabled at this event for two fall shows. Quality of vendors is excellent and it is well-organized. I was happy with my experience and sales at the first show. I made many sales at the beginning of the event, when the serious shoppers came. I believe at the time they offered swag bags to early shoppers, not sure if they still do that. Customers at this show seem to be very appreciative of art and I got a lot of positive comments, which is great. The second year I did the show, my table was right near the front doors where it was cold outside, and people tended to breeze past my table. My sales were down by half that year, I'm sure it was due to the location of my table. In general, though, this is a good show.
On a side note, I stayed at a Motel 6 the night before which was very close to the show location. I would NOT recommend the Motel 6 in Raleigh. There were protective bars on the lobby desk and random people knocked on my door twice (once for the "Thai massage" and the other I did not answer to find out!)
On a side note, I stayed at a Motel 6 the night before which was very close to the show location. I would NOT recommend the Motel 6 in Raleigh. There were protective bars on the lobby desk and random people knocked on my door twice (once for the "Thai massage" and the other I did not answer to find out!)
This listing updated: 8-26-15 by Aijung
December
Date of Show: Saturday, December 12th 2015, 10 am - 5 pm, Early Bird Preview 9 am - 10 am
Application Deadline: September 28, 2015
Name: HOLIDAY HEAP
Website: http://www.charmcitycraftmafia.com/
Location: 2640 St. Paul Street (St. John's Church), Baltimore, MD 21218
Founded: 2006Date of Show: Saturday, December 12th 2015, 10 am - 5 pm, Early Bird Preview 9 am - 10 am
Application Deadline: September 28, 2015
Juried: Yes.
Booth Fee: $10 Application Fee, $100 for 8' x 4' Booth Space (Bring your own tables and displays)
Art Categories: Handmade
Art Categories: Handmade
Number of Exhibitors: ?
Attendance: ?
Notes: I have not tabled at this show, but from a couple other vendors I heard it was pretty good. I will update if I do this show, or if you have an experience to share please leave a comment below.
This listing updated: 8-26-15 by Aijung
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