If you are in the Salem Oregon area, the Salem Fiberarts Guild is having a sale.
There will be textile and fiber demonstrations: Angora Rabbit Spinning, Applique, Bobbin Lace, Drop Spindle Spinning, Knitting, Lacemaking, Needle Felting, Needlepoint, Pine Needle Basketry, Rug Braiding, Rug Hooking. Papercutting, Wool spinning, Weaving.
The Fourth floor of Mission Mill - the weaving studio will be open.
The sale takes place Friday, October 2nd, and Saturday, October 3rd, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Mission Mill Dye House.
I went to the sale yesterday. It was quite heavily attended. There is also a quilt show going on at the same time. Lots of demonstrations of spinning and weaving.
This made me think...what makes a good sale and how do you get lots of people to come? Our Guild sale has been fading even though we have the same high quality, beauty, and variety we've had in past years.
Any ideas?
Carie
That is a good question. Since this is my first one, I can't say much about what has gone on in the past. From talking with other members, I know that they went from a three day sale to a two day sale a couple of years ago.
The location itself is a draw. It is at the Mission Mill Museum. Besides the weavers, other related crafts were demonstrated with items for sale. There were spinning (and a couple of angora rabbits donating fur), braided rugs, needlepoint, bobbin lace and felting. Each of these drew some additional people to the sale.
I do think the venue for your sale is quite important, and yes, the Salem guild sale is able to draw a crowd simply because of the venue. It is able to be held at the museum itself, and is combined with many demonstrations as well.
I guess it's a question of who you are trying to reach? When I went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber, I found that the Portland Handweavers had their own booth, but their audience is going to be almost all textile arts fans of one type or another. Was it successful or not? I don't know.
If you want your audience to be the general public, you might want to consider holding your sale at a venue that is already attracting a large crowd of the general public. Perhaps a state fair? or a crafty event?
Just some thoughts...
Kay
Thank you both for your thoughtful comments.
We are exploring other venues that will hopefully bring us a larger audience. I hadn't thought of a museum. I like the idea of associating the guild sale with another crafts event or maybe joining with spinning, beading, knitting, etc. groups to present a joint event.
Carie
Portland has a very large multi-guild show that is very good. It combines pottery, glass, beads, fine woodworking, metal craft (jewelry) and fiber arts. The pottery portion is huge, the glass is very big also. But the combination, held at the convention center, brings in large crowds. So there is a good deal of crossover. People that come for the pottery also stop by the other guilds, and vice-versa.
I think that getting more than one group together at a time is a good idea. It helps draw in folks that really came for something else.
Mission Mill Museum is a logical place for the handweavers sale, because it is the home of the Salem Fiberarts Guild, and the building itself was used to process fiber, and weave it. The first two floors of the museum have the old equipment in tact and signs have been added to instruct those taking a tour. The third floor was the carding floor, and is now open and is rented out for various events. The quilters had their show in that space. The fourth floor is the Design Center, and is home to a large number and variety of looms that are in constant use by guild members and those taking classes. It is open to the public.
The sale itself took place in the dye room which is in a building adjacent to the large mill building.
