I wrote a short post recently about the Stamford Artisans Guild, now I am reporting back on the recent Christmas Craft Fair that was held on the 6th December in the Stamford Arts Centre.
The show was organised by my wife Shalini and three other ladies, Lorna, Sharon and Amanda, they put lots of effort into the organisation and publicity off the fair, and it paid off big time.
At the outset, there was very strict criteria laid down for who could take part, notably, everything had to be hand made by the person who was exhibiting and they had to based in Stamford or within a 25 mile radius, although there were a few people who were there from further afield.
The Arts Centre was full, they sold 31 stalls to various crafters covering all manner of skills from jewellery, wood turners, photographers and of course me with my lapidary.
Shalini was even approached a few days before the event by BBC Radio Lincolnshire for an interview about the Fair. The interview was conducted over the phone and Shalini did en excellent job of describing the Guild and its aims.
Everyone arrived around 8AM to start setting up and the doors were due to open to the public at 10AM, but because of the great job they did of publicising the event, members of the public started coming at 9:30AM, people were still putting the finishing touches to their stalls.
During the day their was a steady flow of visitors, I have no idea how many there actually were, but the whole place was buzzing throughout the day and all stall holders were very happy at the end of the day, a good level of sales was achieved and many good contact were made by almost everyone involved.
The organisers had requested the Arts Centre café to open on the day, normally they are closed on Sunday’s, anyway the Café was sold out by 2:30PM such was the level of demand for refreshments and food.
The event closed at 4PM officially, but even as everyone was packing up there will still visitors coming in which was great.
If you would like to learn more about the Stamford Artisans Guild or its activities to date please visit their web site at:
http://www.stamfordartisansguild.co.uk/
All the best
Dave
