Bridge Bust - Certainly A Bust
Manolas Handmade Soaps (that is, Melissa and me) participated in the 16th annual Bridge Bust yesterday down in Columbia. The weather was threatening the whole day, but only produced a few sprinkles near the end of the event -- around 3:30pm. But even with the good weather, we didn't do as well as we hoped to; our handmade soaps and scrubs were competing with the likes of Pixie Stix, cheap tube socks, and padded toilet seats.
Although billed as an antiques and crafts show, the actual percentage of vendors of these items (as well as foods) was probably about 60%; and that's being generous. The remaining vendors were resellers of everything from the aforementioned items, plus items such as NFL hard hats, Harley t-shirts, and framed mass-market prints. We met some very nice people and sold quite a bit of our product, but weren't thrilled to be set up alongside vendors that had rows of open banana cases with shrink-wrapped household items and toys.
At this point, getting out and making customers is the name of the game. However, we're finding we probably have to be choosy about where we decide to set up shop.