Any one else fed up with Craft shows?

[Soapwitch]

Hi all,

I attended a well organised and popular event yesterday, and with lots of visitors and the sunshine out I had high hopes.

I sell natural soaps and bath products and arrived to find stalls run by a body shop rep and a forever living networker. Not only this, but a stall selling handbags, the kind you'd find on a holiday abroad! and to top it off the woman next to us was selling second hand goods, books, cd's etc!!

It seems that real craft shows don't exist and that organisers let in anyone who asks for a stall!

Are all craft shows the same?

[Seahorse]

No idea but that is right out of order selling established names, repro bags and second hand goods!!Yuck.

Maybe for future fairs you could phone the organisers and ask what other stalls will be there.If not craft, steer clear.

[beadsbydesign]

I think that more and more, this is the case.
They are seen as money making ventures by the organisers.
recently I attended a craft show that year after year is going down hill.
You can read about it here: http://www.craftsforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2195
I am lucky that I have a pitch at the local farmers market where they demand that every single item on your stall is hand made by you. Our local parish council run the market and check carefully and thoroughly that every product fulfills the philosophy. They also allow only one or two craft stalls as it is really aimed towards food products.
I think that part of the down turn is the ready availability of anything your heart desires 24/7 on the internet.
In America the craft scene is huge. They have B&Q wharehouse sized craft stores and every town has a local bead store. The craft shows in Usa are large and are often juried, where a seller has to submit smaples and photos etc of there wares before they are accepted. That seems to me a really good idea. However I have a lot of internet friends who are having dissapointing shows over there too.