Waitlist Turned Into an Invite!

I know I’ve said before that we prefer our local markets over traveling to larger art festivals.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t like art festivals!

We absolutely do—when they check a few boxes:

• It’s a GOOD event.
• It’s nearby and doesn’t require a bunch of travel and extra expenses.
• OR…it’s a really good event in a great destination that makes the travel worthwhile. (Hello, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho!)

And the Corvallis Fall Festival definitely checks those boxes for us.

It’s a fantastic event right here in our hometown. We don’t need a hotel. We don’t have a long drive. We know the community. And last year, it gave us our best one-day sales ever.

So, of course, we applied again this year.

And we were waitlisted.

The Waitlist

I wasn’t completely surprised.

My booth photos weren’t very good—and I knew it.

Jurying for art festivals can be unpredictable anyway, and good booth photos matter. I’ve written before about being rejected from juried shows and how I knew our application photos needed improvement.

Still, since we had participated in the Corvallis Fall Festival before and we’re local, I decided to check in with the festival director.

I let her know that if a booth opened up, we could take a booth on very short notice.

And then I waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Honestly, by the week of the festival, I assumed it probably wasn’t going to happen.

Then, FOUR DAYS before the event, the call came:

Would we like a booth?

HECK YES!

Time to Scramble

First, I contacted the manager of the Corvallis Makers Market to let her know we wouldn’t be at our regular Saturday market.

Then Will and I got to work.

We already keep a pretty healthy amount of inventory on hand, but this is a big event—and after having such a successful show there last year, we wanted to be prepared.

For the next couple of days, we both worked hard to add some extra inventory.

Will focused on making more Oregon Sunstone jewelry. I worked on sea glass rings and made sure my basics were well-stocked.

There wasn’t time to completely rethink our inventory, redesign our booth or do anything particularly elaborate.

We just needed to be ready to GO.

And fortunately, we were.

A Waitlist Isn’t Necessarily a No

This experience was a good reminder that being waitlisted for an art festival isn’t the same thing as being rejected.

Things happen.

Artists cancel. Travel plans change. Someone gets sick. Weather affects travel. Life gets in the way.

And suddenly an organizer has an empty booth space that needs to be filled—with only a few days to do it.

That’s why, if you’re waitlisted for an event you really want to attend, I think it’s worth politely letting the organizer know that you’re still interested and that you can come on short notice.

Don’t pester them. Don’t repeatedly ask where you are on the waitlist.

Just make it easy for them to remember you when they suddenly have a space to fill.

And be ready to pay booth fees. Quickly!

Being local certainly helped us. Four days’ notice for an event across the country wouldn’t have worked. Four days’ notice for an event in our own hometown?

Absolutely.

How to Be Ready for a Last-Minute Festival Invite

If you’re willing to accept a booth on short notice, you actually need to be prepared to do it.

1. Let the organizer know you’re available. If you’re waitlisted, send a short, friendly message letting them know you’re still interested and can fill a cancellation on short notice. Then let them do their job.
2. Have plenty of setup options. You may not have much time to plan for your exact booth location or layout. We have enough tables, displays, tent walls and other setup pieces that we can adapt our booth when necessary. The setup that works at one market isn’t necessarily going to work at another.
3. Keep a healthy amount of inventory on hand. This is a big one. If you’re hoping for a last-minute invitation, don’t let your inventory get down to almost nothing while you’re waiting. You might suddenly need enough work to fill an entire booth. (Hint: focus on popular items that sell!)
4. Know what you can make quickly. We weren’t going to create a huge collection of complicated new pieces in four days. Instead, we concentrated on things we already make efficiently and know sell well. Will made Oregon Sunstone jewelry. I made sea glass rings. And, I made sure my earrings and basic necklaces were well-stocked.
5. Keep your market gear organized. Tent. Weights. Tables. Displays. Signs. Packaging. Bags. Square reader. Extension cords. Chairs. All the little things that go into setting up a booth. A vendor checklist can help keep those details from getting lost.
6. Be ready to change your plans. We were already scheduled to sell at the Corvallis Makers Market that weekend. As soon as we accepted the Fall Festival booth, I contacted the market manager and let her know our plans had changed.

Four days isn’t the time to start wondering where you put your tent weights.

That’s part of accepting a last-minute opportunity—you may have to rearrange your schedule quickly.

Sometimes It Pays to Stay on the List

Would I want every art festival invitation to arrive four days before the event?

Definitely not. 😆

But for a great event, in our hometown, where we had our best one-day sales ever the previous year?

We could make four days work.

So if you get that dreaded WAITLIST email from an event you really want to attend, don’t automatically write it off.

Let the organizer know you’re still interested.

Keep making.

Keep your booth gear ready.

And keep enough inventory around to fill those displays.

Because sometimes...

the call really does come.