My First Vending Experience
A few weekends ago, on September 21st, 2024, I vended my first fair! It was at the Branchburg Country Fair at White Oak Park in Branchburg, New Jersey. I sold digital and linoleum prints in varying sizes.
This is what my booth setup looked like at the fair. All of the decorative and structural elements, from the stuffed chicken and pumpkins to the binder clips and neon pink duct tape, were sourced either from my family or my friends.
Because this was my first vending experience, I had a lot of first-time hurdles to overcome. Everything was daunting. I had no clue what kind of designs sell the best, how I should present each piece, or what my table was going to look like. It didn’t help that I signed up to participate only two weeks before the fair date, either.
And so for two solid weeks, all I did was prepare for the fair. I drew, I formatted, I carved rubber blocks into stamps, and I fought to the death with my Epson inkjet printer (which guzzles ink faster than I can say “please don’t”). In between all of that, I debated on what art I wanted to print. I was lucky to already have some pretty eye-catching digital illustrations in my portfolio, which helped immensely with my workload.
I eventually roped my friends into helping me decide what to sell, presenting my Google Drive folder of prospective pieces for them to vote and give feedback on. Thank you to them for their help.
This was what my primary table mockup looked like, spread out on my living room floor. The 8.5 feet of table space I was allotted seemed overwhelming at first until I started laying the pieces out.
On top of making the various prints I would sell and gathering my decorative elements for my table, I also made promotional images for social media (some of which are shown above) and updated my portfolio website (the same one you’re on now). Thank you to everyone who shared my promos on their social medias, it means the absolute world.
Then finally, after those two weeks of preparation hell, the day of the fair arrived. The weather was beautiful — clear skies, not too hot, and a nice breeze. Sitting at my table with my parents, sister, and several friends rotating throughout the day was far more enjoyable than I anticipated.
In all, the two weeks of work were absolutely worth it. I sold a decent portion of my stock, got to immerse myself in the vending world for the first time, and caught up with some friendly faces I haven’t seen in a while.
I can’t wait to sell again next year!
— Caroline