Blog

Tips, news, and insights for vending event vendors.

September 10, 2026

What a jury actually sees

I've been rejected from juried shows, and never because someone looked hard at my work and found it wanting. Most rejections are a rule being applied — and the rule was written before you applied.

September 9, 2026

What a craft fair booth actually costs — and how rarely anyone tells you

Nine in ten craft fair listings never publish a booth fee. Here's what the ones that do actually charge, from 972 events with a fee on record.

September 6, 2026

Vermont, Nebraska, South Dakota, & Delaware are verified

Four more states verified by hand: Vermont's two-season markets, Nebraska's split fair applications, South Dakota duplicates, Delaware's copied listings.

August 31, 2026

Alaska, North Dakota, & District of Columbia are verified

Most Alaska markets run on a Facebook page with no website. North Dakota's data looked clean and wasn't. DC events go by neighborhood, not by city.

August 18, 2026

Washington is done.

The first fully verified state: 245 events, 25-35 hours, six to eight minutes of human attention on each one. Here's what hand-checking a state turns up.

August 13, 2026

Why some craft fairs are almost impossible to find

Some shows aren't hidden — they were never really published. A church hall bazaar posted to 300 followers, booth fee buried in reply thirty-eight.

August 7, 2026

Vendor essentials guide: permits, insurance, electricity

The things a booth-fee/deadline comparison never tells you — the gotchas that turn a "good" show into a bad one.

August 4, 2026

Why I wrote a page about what Canopy Season doesn't do

Ten things this site doesn't do, in writing. I'd rather lose you on day one than have you spend three weeks finding out on your own.

August 2, 2026

When it's time to stop doing a street fair, craft show, or art show as a vendor

Everyone teaches you how to get into shows. Nobody talks about getting out of one. How to tell when a show has run out of runway — and leave well.

July 31, 2026

Your first outdoor booth will be wrong. Here's what to fix first.

I prepared for a year and my display still changed every week. Outdoor markets have different physics than indoor craft fairs. What to fix first.

July 27, 2026

Craft fair commissions: what booth fee plus 10% actually costs

I paid $4,000 for a 7x9 booth plus 10% of sales — about 25% of my revenue. Booth fee plus commission is where vendors get hurt. How to run the math.

July 24, 2026

How to read a market while you're working it

Every market tells you something. What to watch at load-in, during the day, and after the tents come down: layout, vendor mix, and how people move.

July 22, 2026

Why good sales don’t always mean a good event

A full cash box can hide underpricing, clearance, and a crowd you'll never see again. What to ask about an event besides the number at the end of the day.

July 17, 2026

When the economy slows, so do craft market sales

Sometimes it isn't your booth, your prices, or the event. People don't stop shopping when budgets tighten — they buy the candle instead of the artwork.

July 17, 2026

When a high booth fee is actually worth paying

Stop asking whether the booth fee is too high. Ask what the organizer is actually selling you, and whether it puts buyers in front of your tent.

July 16, 2026

Expensive events aren’t always better

A high booth fee tells you what an event costs to produce, not what it will return. You aren't buying booth space. You're buying an opportunity.

July 15, 2026

Why “marketing days” cost vendors more than they realize

“It was a marketing day” is sometimes true and sometimes an excuse. The difference between a deliberate investment and a rationalization after the fact.

July 8, 2026

When it’s time to change your product instead of your market

After five years I admitted my products would never cover my costs. Quality and originality mean nothing if people don't buy. Sometimes it's the product.

July 7, 2026

Why finding vendor information is so difficult

Finding events is easy. Finding booth fees, commissions, insurance rules, and parking means digging through PDFs, portals, and twenty-step applications.

July 6, 2026

How to scout a craft show before you apply

Walk it as a visitor first. What the crowd is carrying, whether people linger, and which booths they buy from tell you more than the event website will.

July 5, 2026

Choosing craft shows by the numbers: distance, real cost, and your baseline

You can't learn to pick events until you've done a few. Distance, real cost, and a baseline ROI — and why you won't know where you fit until year two.

June 20, 2026

Why I built Canopy Season

Every vendor has a spreadsheet and fourteen open tabs. Vending isn't hard because the work is hard. It's hard because the information is scattered.

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