Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival

[walkersstics]

Has anyone ever done this festival? They say they had 250,000 peeps last year....it is expensive, but we are seriously looking at it....it will be held on Oct. 15th and 16th 2011

[bmermaid]

I did it once, but not with my current booth... in college I worked for a kid's activity booth. This show is crazy crowded and very popular. I believe it's handmade only, in that case I'd go for it. Otherwise, unless you're sure you can pull in the bucks, it's a gamble for the high cost. It's a bear getting into town too (just fyi) as there is only one road in and out. But people come from all around the bay area for this festival... hm maybe I should apply too!

[caricatureartist]

I've been trying to think of a way to get into this show for a few years now, too. $450 or $475 for only 2 days is quite a bit! Usually, festivals charging that much will be 3 or 4 days. I've been looking for someone to share with, but its hard to find someone. My booth set-up is fairly small. Its also tough to contact one of the main promoters, and the "receptionists" are dead set against selling a smaller space for a little less. Maybe this year, who knows.

[walkersstics]

Well, I have put in for this one....I was thinking Danville too, but these are a week apart and put on by the same promoter ....they say they had 250,000 in attendence (HMB) last year...and I like the big show so why not....and I believe this is another outstanding area for my products, so I want to try it once

[davejs]

Jan 13, 2011 20:26:58 GMT -5 walkersstics said:

Well, I have put in for this one....I was thinking Danville too, but these are a week apart and put on by the same promoter ....they say they had 250,000 in attendence (HMB) last year...and I like the big show so why not....and I believe this is another outstanding area for my products, so I want to try it once

I think that HMB would be great for you, since you have many items priced $25-30 and up. If they said that they had 250K there, then I would tend to believe it. I dropped by there a few year's back early on Sunday (after some sprinkles) and it's a very artsy show. Danville is somewhat similar with a large crowd but I did hear that sales were poor for a large number of vendor's. I'd say to give it a shot because you are not going to lose money nonetheless.

I wanted to stop by HMB during the morning because of the huge, monstrous traffic jams on Highway 92 from 280 (and beyond) to downtown. Highway One packed also. There are some events I'd love to see in the HMB area during the year, but I hate traffic.

Pertaining mostly to Nick (CaricatureArtist); I agree that the promoters of the Pumpkin are not going to sell you a partial space unless they can put you on the sidwalk, but then you could have issues with the store owners. It could be a touchy issue if you went out on your own the day(s) of the event. I have a friend who sells caps, jerseys, etc. at a bunch of events and a number of year's ago he went to one of the property owners (maybe 30-40 yards away in good traffic flow) around the corner and agreed to pay them $xx to place his canopy, etc., on their property just in back of the sidewalk. He does very well. I am not sure if there are any other vendors doing that over there, but he tried to talk me into it, and I nixed the idea. If you have the 'guts' to approach one of these property owners near the end (or beginning) of the show you might be able to set up in 'their' driveway.

BTW, I have met a good number of vendors who have actually set up in truckstops (AZ mostly) to sell their merchandise. Signs, temporary tatoos, etc. They have tried to talk me into trying it, but I just don't have the right merchandise for it. Gosh, it would be great to head on out for a couple weeks and hit one of these truck stops for 3 days during the week and just stay in my motor home. Could sandwich something like this in between shows.