How To Become A Festival Vendor

If you agree that nothing could be better than being outside, making new friends, and making some money as your own boss then you are ready to become a festival vendor.  Becoming a festival vendor can be easy or difficult; it really depends on the festival you want to sell your wares at. Below are some useful tips on how to get your foot in the festival door.  There are many different ways to start out as a festival vendor.  If you can’t get in the first time around, then check out some of these additional hints to help you figure out a way.

So You Want To Be A Festival Vendor?

If you’ve been to a few festivals, flea markets, or craft show and want in on the action then you’ll have to get busy – early.  That’s right, most of the festival vendors you see at your local festivals have signed up for their spot up to a year in advance.  Some festivals are more competitive than others. If you have some prior experience being a festival vendor, but you’d like to join a well-known or traveling festival than you know how hard it can be to get a coveted space to sell your wares.

The Early Bird Gets The Worm

The first thing to do no matter what festival you want to be a festival vendor at is to find out who is in charge.  Try to speak directly with them about signing up.  If you are lucky you will just need to pay up front to reserve your spot and then show up on the first day of the festival.  Sometimes you won’t have to sign up until the day of the festival, but most will require you to put down a deposit ahead of time.  This means that even if you are signing up for a hot festival a year in advance you still might need to lay down a hefty deposit now.  This also means that if you can’t make it at the last minute it you will probably lose your entire deposit.  Unfortunately, this is just how things go in the festival circuit and if you want to become a festival vendor you will have to shell out some cash before you’ve made a penny.

What To Do If You Can’t Get In

If you have chosen to become a festival vendor at a more competitive show and there are no available spots left, then you can try a few things.  You can always ask to share a space with an established vendor.  This is an especially good move for a festival vendor that has a small set up or someone just starting out.  If the booth fees are high, another festival vendor might be happy to let you set up inside their booth.  Ask whoever is in charge or approach a friendly festival vendor yourself.  You can also see if there are any cancellations that day or the day before.  This can be a real pain since you have no guarantee, but things happen and this could get you in.  Negotiating with another festival vendor to hold their spot for them if they need to be away for a day or two is another way to get in on a temporary basis.  If you want to be a festival vendor, then you are surely a creative type, so use those skills and figure out a way to get in there.

Playing The Game

The more experience you have as a festival vendor, the easier it becomes to get a space or a better one.  Like almost anything in life, who you know matters.  Being connected with the organizers and other festival vendors can help you out a lot when it comes to getting a prime space at a festival. This doesn’t mean you need to try to get the management’s attention every chance you can.  In fact what it means, is try to be a festival vendor who is easy to get along with and pays attention to the people running the show.  It may sounds simple, but you will see many festival vendors put up quite a fuss when it comes to their space or a variety of things.  Be the kind of festival vendor that people want at their festival.  People will take note of this and this it will help ensure you a place at the festival or make sure that the your favorite space is vacant when you arrive.