Ways to Find Craft Shows in Your Area

First, make sure the craft shows you find are for crafters and not also for a lot of MLM’s (Multi Level Marketing). You don’t want a lot of people selling Lip Sense, Lu La Roe,  or Pampered Chef. You want true crafters.

Second, make sure the craft show you’re selecting has been around for a while. You don’t want those who are in their first or even second year.

You want ones with a good standing reputation too. Plus each craft show has its own flavor and attracts a different type of buyer. It is important to put in the time to learn about all of the shows in your area so you spend your time applying to and hauling your products the right ones.

Ways to Find Craft Shows in Your Area:

    1. Etsy
      This is a great place because other handmade artisans are always sharing with each other inside the Etsy community (https://community.etsy.com/). Use the search box to type your state + craft shows. Or even just your state to find other useful information. It will take some time but you should be able to find at least one or two good shows to get started. The other thing you can do is search under Etsy teams and join some of your local teams for support.
    2. Google
      Go to google.com and type in your state + craft shows. Find the craft shows and also look them up on Facebook. If they have an active page and /or group and seem to be highlighting handmade crafters, they would be worth checking out more.
    3. Event Listing Websites
      There are multiple event listing websites that keep track of craft shows throughout the U.S. To get more information, you’ll often be required to sign up for an account, but you can get basic information on events from each of them and register for an account when it becomes necessary to get more details. Here are a few event listing sites:

Eventbrite
FairsandFestivals.net
FestivalNet
Art & Craft Show Yellow Pages

    1. Official City Calendars
      Your city or county websites typically maintain a calendar of events. You can find the smaller events that might not take the time to register with national event listing websites. Also, track down local or state craft organizations that sponsor regular fairs.
    2. Churches and Schools
      Don’t limit your search to the events you see in traditional craft show listings. Many local churches and schools have bake sales, craft fairs, and carnivals to raise money. You’ll either pay a booth fee or donate a percentage of sales in exchange for being able to sell your items to a built-in audience of that organization’s supporters. In addition to checking their websites, follow their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts so that you’ll be alerted when they’re signing up vendors. You may even have luck by reaching out to each school and church to let them know you’re available for any craft fairs they might have.
    3. Facebook
      All the good craft shows are on Facebook and utilize it to drive traffic and attention to their shows. This is a great resource to also help find shows. Go to facebook and type state + craft shows. Then join any of the groups you might find to see which ones are active and seem to have a large amount of interest. Read the posts and do some research. A lot of times, these posters will also mention other shows that have worked for them in the past.
    4. Word of Mouth
      While working or visiting a show, ask the other artistians where else you can find them and they are more than eager to tell you where else they go.

Where do you like to find your local craft shows?

 

1 Comment

  1. Sufficient Grace on May 29, 2021 at 8:29 am

    To answer the question where do I like to find local craft shows? Facebook..

    Thank you so much for this wonderful information. You are a wonderful teacher.

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