craft$ellers

I made the “Rose Bowl Show” this past April 13th. I missed one, as customer, four years ago, as I had to go back to Paris. Since then, it has been a dream of mine to sell in it when I got back to Los Angeles to start my Craft Business.

It was a lot of fun, but had a lot of surprises, both good and bad. If you go on this link - www.rgcshows.com/RoseBowlFleaMarket/tabid/52/Default.aspx - you will get an idea of what the Rose Bowl Show is like. It has a quick glimpse on its history, but what is the most fascinating, is that they call it “The Shopping Place of the Stars”.

What follows is an account of my experience at the show. I hope you can glean some pointers and hints from my time there.

It's rather easy to register as long as you pay your space. Fortunately, you can also have a space just behind for your car too. It costs a little more, but it's definitely worth it. This is what I got.

Compared to other show and markets, the spaces are rather expensive (I paid $135 for my space + my car space). You also have to choose your area, as the vintage items are not sold in the same area as the new or crafted ones. I was in the Pink area.

For my first market in the US, ever, I wanted some help from a “true” American, as I was afraid that I may not be able to understand everyone, especially the Latinos who have such a weird accent (for me). Since I don’t speak Spanish, it can be a problem here, especially in Pasadena.

I found an old lady, Linda, ready to be hired and who has been living in Pasadena, just beside the Rose Bowl (I forgot “beside” has not the same meaning in French than in English). She also was able to speak Spanish.

We were supposed to meet at the entrance, since my little car was so full, I couldn’t even take a passenger.

We couldn’t come in separately, as I had a paper to show at the entrance, proving that I had paid and that my space was already held. In the rules of the market, we are supposed to arrive all together or the other sellers will have to pay their ticket.

I got up at 3:00 am in effort to arrive at 5:00 am, beginning time for the settling in our space. I waited and waited and waited for my “Linda help”, but she never arrived. Actually we never could find each other, because it was still dark, and there are a number of different entrances for the different areas.

Once inside, I was still unable to find my space. We were all selling around the Rose Bowl Stadium, so it is huge (for me, a little Frenchy girl, it is more than huge : it is unbelievable).

Apparently, I was not completely stupid, since many others needed help finding their spaces too. We all needed a guide, who, himself, seemed to have some difficulties too. It’s never easy to find numbers on the ground when it is totally dark, with no light at all.

Strange atmosphere, I was wondering if I was still sleeping or not, how much time we would need to find our space. Once the sun was up, we would discover that we were all completely wrong !

Finally, I found my space and it turned out to be a good one. But my two neighbors on my left had to switch their spaces as they had them mixed up. Rather funny so early in the morning.

The customers are supposed to arrive at 9:00 am. But, by 8:30, some people were already watching and walking around, asking for information on our products. That's a little disturbing when you aren't ready for them yet. I was still trying to get my prices on my products. You think you have a lot of time to settle, but it passes so fast, you are “performing” already without having one minute to breathe.

When people arrive, they really arrive : a lot, everywhere, curious of everything, excited by what is new, and when you are alone, as I was, you have to be quick to answer to be able to satisfy everybody.

Nobody asked me to pay with a credit card (I don’t take them yet) or by check. They all had cash with them, but unable to afford more than $10 or $15 for each purchase. As you would expect, I only sold small things, though my tote bags (around $40) were watched and tried a lot.

I even had some craft young artists (mainly girls) who wanted to know what varnish I used, and where to buy it. I always give that information, as the imagination and talent are never a matter of varnish or paint brands.

Everything was fine, until I realized my small and beautiful Balanese umbrella, wasn't covering anything. It was then I understood why most of the sellers/crafters had a canopy or two or three. I wish I had just one!!!

The canopies have the exact size of each space (10’x10’), are not too expensive They are definitely essential. I'll never go again without my canopy. Even if it had started raining, it would have protected everything.

As the morning went on, it got really hot. I turned as red as a crawfish. This isn't good for me as normally I have very light skin. I got so bad I felt like I could hardly move my arms. I was concerned about Linda as she is older, and might not do well in the heat.

It even got hot enough to where my supervarnish on my tote bags began melting. I couldn't believe it, the bags were sticking together (that never happened to me before in fifteen years !). My candles also turned completely liquid. The customers couldn’t touch any of my items so hot there were . Not having a canopy was resulting in no sales.

However, my neighbor on the right had two big white canopies with long chairs to sell under them. All the customers wanted its shade and to rest on his long chairs. He sold a lot of them for $135 each, payable with a credit card, and in some cases delivered. This guy was very happy with his day.

On my left, the tie sellers were not happy at all. They didn’t even have an umbrella, were baking on their chairs and sold almost nothing.

At 2:00 pm everybody (I mean all the customers) were gone, because the heat was just unbearable. Even most of the sellers were beginning to pack up. I tried to hold until 3:00 pm (actually, I was so burnt that I couldn’t move), but at 2:30, I decided I suffered enough.

Just when I was almost done, we got a crazy wind which almost broke my beautiful umbrella, and this time, I thought I was going to play “Mary Poppins” all alone, as nobody was there anymore to watch me, except a laughing woman who seemed to find me, fighting with this balanese thing, very funny.

In this show, most of the sellers around me were new, just like me, so they couldn’t really say how much they usually make there. Except the long chair seller, nobody in my area was happy with their sales. I sold just a few little things. Not enough to even make the stall fees back. But I got two contacts with stores which may give something in the future.

As for "The Shopping Place for the Stars", nobody saw any stars that day. Probably too hot for them.

Just after the show, I wasn't feeling much like I wanted to do it again. However, many people asked me if I would be there in May, and I answered yes because it's still before the hottest season, and I hate to end on a bad note. I did however, order a white canopy for next time (no dark colors or red, as it adds to the heat, the best is white or cold pale colors).

So, I will try again, next month, probably alone because I can’t afford some help yet and Linda is getting too old for such crazy conditions. By the way, Linda did finally went back home when she realized we would never find each other. It was just to big an area, and too dark.

She was upset that I got so burnt, but I learned a lot in one day. Even though it was tough, I did find it exciting to sell my items. It's always enjoyable to sell your art to someone who loves it. Nothing seems better.

Yael Bolender

www.cuculapraline-frenchic.com