The last day of October dawned bright and surprisingly warm, and by 10am the Kenilworth Hall was full of orange bunting, pumpkin lanterns, paper bats and witches hats. Oh, and 20 stalls full of cake, art, crafts and general brilliance. The talent of the traders who come to the fairs never ceases to amaze me.
We'd had 2 last minute cancellations, but after putting the word out on Facebook and Twitter, we'd filled those places with THREE new traders, and with one other stall holder neglecting to turn up on the day, we had 19 stalls in total. I threw a table cloth over the 20th stall and filled it with trick or treat buckets, which contained a lucky dip of goody bags that housed mostly silliness (one bag was full of multi coloured fluffy chicks that were left over from the Easter fair) - but one child proudly exclaimed that his bag was 'wonderful' and had made him feel 'really happy'. So the 20th table was a hit and hopefully no one noticed that it should been something else. A word on booking stalls that I think all organisers of similar events will agree with - don't book and then not turn up without letting the organiser know. It's rude, and someone else could have had that stall. Moving on!
There are a variety of things that determine the amount of people that will come through the doors on Craft Fair day, that have nothing to do with the advertising done before the event. The weather plays a big part - if it's raining, nobody is leaving their house! And believe it or not, whether Crystal Palace are playing at home can make a difference. Today they were playing Manchester United at home, so I was expecting a lot of people in CPFC shirts in the morning, and less people in the afternoon. Luckily, that didn't occur. And the weather was nice - in fact, people were walking in wearing short sleeves. And the sun streamed in through the high windows, so it was the least spooky Halloween fair ever, aside from the rubber spiders that adorned some of the walls - and the cake table.
We'd had 2 last minute cancellations, but after putting the word out on Facebook and Twitter, we'd filled those places with THREE new traders, and with one other stall holder neglecting to turn up on the day, we had 19 stalls in total. I threw a table cloth over the 20th stall and filled it with trick or treat buckets, which contained a lucky dip of goody bags that housed mostly silliness (one bag was full of multi coloured fluffy chicks that were left over from the Easter fair) - but one child proudly exclaimed that his bag was 'wonderful' and had made him feel 'really happy'. So the 20th table was a hit and hopefully no one noticed that it should been something else. A word on booking stalls that I think all organisers of similar events will agree with - don't book and then not turn up without letting the organiser know. It's rude, and someone else could have had that stall. Moving on!
There are a variety of things that determine the amount of people that will come through the doors on Craft Fair day, that have nothing to do with the advertising done before the event. The weather plays a big part - if it's raining, nobody is leaving their house! And believe it or not, whether Crystal Palace are playing at home can make a difference. Today they were playing Manchester United at home, so I was expecting a lot of people in CPFC shirts in the morning, and less people in the afternoon. Luckily, that didn't occur. And the weather was nice - in fact, people were walking in wearing short sleeves. And the sun streamed in through the high windows, so it was the least spooky Halloween fair ever, aside from the rubber spiders that adorned some of the walls - and the cake table.
Let's talk about cake first. Because cake always comes first. Nadia of The Leander Cake Company was back, and she brought with her a wide selection of seasonal cake, including pumpkin cupcakes. And of course, her famous Malteaser Cake, which she has told me takes about 3 days to make and includes a 5am wake up in order to ice it. People often ask me if she, and this cake, will be at the next fair. I'm always very happy to see her.
The Lewisham Craft People's Guild also brought a wide selection of cakes including tray bakes, brownies and Trick or Treat Biscuits. The brownies disappeared pretty fast, and I'm pleased to say I managed to get hold of one. It was very gooey and amazing.
Usually, people that come to the fair get their cake and then head through to the 'Snug', which is the little room off the hall that has a kitchen attached to it, to get tea and warm up. Today was so warm that I saw a lot of families heading outside with their cake to enjoy it in the sunshine. It was like a spring day.
The Lewisham Craft People's Guild also brought a wide selection of cakes including tray bakes, brownies and Trick or Treat Biscuits. The brownies disappeared pretty fast, and I'm pleased to say I managed to get hold of one. It was very gooey and amazing.
Usually, people that come to the fair get their cake and then head through to the 'Snug', which is the little room off the hall that has a kitchen attached to it, to get tea and warm up. Today was so warm that I saw a lot of families heading outside with their cake to enjoy it in the sunshine. It was like a spring day.
I always love to walk round and look at all the different table layouts and decorations used. The creativity of the traders is really inspiring, especially as I am no good at decorating my own table, or creating height. Watching people using different technique to create levels on which to better display their work was really cool - I saw easels and cake stands, hangers, pin boards, magnetic boards and shelving of varying different heights. A thing to behold for sure. Yolanta Gawlik of Hatome Art Studio even made use of the piano as a display platform for her glorious artwork - an original idea indeed, and one that stopped me from having to cover the clunky, brown piano in decorative orange cobwebs and plastic neon skeletons.
The day started off slowly, as it always does, and then picked up, with a steady trickle of people and families turning into a stream and then a bit of a river. I was very pleased to see so many coming in through the doors. When I think back to how we started in 2012-13, with only the families and friends of crafters and maybe a handful of non-related visitors, I'm proud of how far we've come. People coming in of their own accord, whether it be because they had seen an advert on Facebook, or a poster on the high street, or a friend had told them about it, is a great thing, and I hope the word will continue to spread in time, so that soon, that river of people turns into a torrent. There were a few lulls throughout the day, but watching the traders smiling and doing business, meeting each other and forging connections made up for it. I measure success in the amount of community spirit present, and the atmosphere of the day - and both were spot on all day. The majority of feedback that I got was very good, and I was glad to see so many people going away happy.
As there always is, there was one piece of feedback exclaiming that the fair had not been as busy as they had hoped. It always makes me sad to hear this but I have to remember that this is a small fair and as mentioned above, compared to how we started, it's actually really busy now! I also have to remember that different people measure success in different ways, and all feedback is valid. Still, I was impressed when looking around at all the visitors to the fair, and that impressed feeling lasted pretty much for the whole day.
As there always is, there was one piece of feedback exclaiming that the fair had not been as busy as they had hoped. It always makes me sad to hear this but I have to remember that this is a small fair and as mentioned above, compared to how we started, it's actually really busy now! I also have to remember that different people measure success in different ways, and all feedback is valid. Still, I was impressed when looking around at all the visitors to the fair, and that impressed feeling lasted pretty much for the whole day.
As well as all the human visitors (many of whom came in as humans and went away as witches, skeletons and zombies, thanks to our resident face painter, Sarah Jarrett), a friendly local cat decided to stop by, and he curiously went about his business for most of the morning - which heavily involved jumping on all the tables and sniffing the crafts. Apparently he likes to come into the hall quite a lot - his favourite activity to join in with is Boppin' Tots on a Monday morning - but we have adopted him as the Craft Fair Cat. Maybe next time we'll let him have his own stall.
My other favourite thing to do once all the stallholders have arrived and everything is set up is to walk around and take photographs. I love to photograph brightly coloured things and the craft fair is the perfect place for that. I always feel a bit self conscious photographing absolutely everything from different angles and my ideal situation would be to have the hall all to myself for an hour so that I could take my time and take a LOT of pretty photographs. Still, I think I did pretty well.
More things to report from SE20 Craft Fair number 7:-
Usually it's just the kids that get their faces painted. I was amused and pleased to see that on this day, Halloween 2015, just as many adults were leaving the fair all painted up like a skull or a fairy or a Frankenstein. Sarah said afterwards that she had not stopped all day!
We had two collections going at this fair. Sarah was donating all her face painting proceeds to Mind, a mental health charity, and raised £45. The tea and coffee donations (not required but always appreciated) went, for the first time, back into the craft fair to go towards a big banner which can be hung out on Penge High Street in the run up to each fair, and we raised £30 to go towards that. I'll be looking at getting the banner made in early 2016.
I had a lot of conversations with people about the Christmas edition of SE20 Craft Fair, which will be on Saturday 12th December - I wish I could have a hundred stalls but sadly there is only room for 20 - and about Anerley Craft Fair which is happening on Saturday 5th December, and which I can't wait to visit and have a stall at. A lot of people also said they are very much looking forward to it. Locals, check it out.
So many great products were on offer and I wish I could have bought everything. Everyone had their own highlights - mine were the brightly coloured bibs made from funky looking fabrics by Laura of Like Sewiously (I bought two, and I kind of wish they came in adult sizes!), the beautiful photographs on note cards taken and made by Stephanie Sadler of Little Observationist, the cute little plants on offer at Beck's Creative & Beck's Flowers and the felt doughnuts, ice creams and cups of tea to be found over at Never Felt Better. I'd be interested to hear what you loved and what you bought!
More things to report from SE20 Craft Fair number 7:-
Usually it's just the kids that get their faces painted. I was amused and pleased to see that on this day, Halloween 2015, just as many adults were leaving the fair all painted up like a skull or a fairy or a Frankenstein. Sarah said afterwards that she had not stopped all day!
We had two collections going at this fair. Sarah was donating all her face painting proceeds to Mind, a mental health charity, and raised £45. The tea and coffee donations (not required but always appreciated) went, for the first time, back into the craft fair to go towards a big banner which can be hung out on Penge High Street in the run up to each fair, and we raised £30 to go towards that. I'll be looking at getting the banner made in early 2016.
I had a lot of conversations with people about the Christmas edition of SE20 Craft Fair, which will be on Saturday 12th December - I wish I could have a hundred stalls but sadly there is only room for 20 - and about Anerley Craft Fair which is happening on Saturday 5th December, and which I can't wait to visit and have a stall at. A lot of people also said they are very much looking forward to it. Locals, check it out.
So many great products were on offer and I wish I could have bought everything. Everyone had their own highlights - mine were the brightly coloured bibs made from funky looking fabrics by Laura of Like Sewiously (I bought two, and I kind of wish they came in adult sizes!), the beautiful photographs on note cards taken and made by Stephanie Sadler of Little Observationist, the cute little plants on offer at Beck's Creative & Beck's Flowers and the felt doughnuts, ice creams and cups of tea to be found over at Never Felt Better. I'd be interested to hear what you loved and what you bought!
I'll end with a list of stallholders that were present and made the 7th SE20 Craft Fair such a fantastic day. Can't wait for the 8th fair and hope to see you all there in December!
Sarah Jarrett Facepainting
The Lewisham Craft People's Guild (Hats, wreaths, bags, cakes)
Jamalade Dreams (Jam and preserves)
Like Sewiously (Hand sewn baby bibs and hair wraps)
The Leander Cake Co.
Carol's Canvases
Beck's Creative and Beck's Flowers (Flowers, cards and gifts)
Hatome Studio ft. the artwork of Yolanta Gawlik and others
SE20 Craft (Photography coasters, cross stitch and greetings cards)
Anne Young (Knitted clothing for babies and children)
Never Felt Better
TrainStop Jewellery
Watercolours by Jo
The Kindu Trust (Jewellery)
Yo!JoJo Handmade (Cards, gifts, bunting)
SpotlessPinata Jewellery
Little Observationist Photography
Sarah Jarrett Facepainting
The Lewisham Craft People's Guild (Hats, wreaths, bags, cakes)
Jamalade Dreams (Jam and preserves)
Like Sewiously (Hand sewn baby bibs and hair wraps)
The Leander Cake Co.
Carol's Canvases
Beck's Creative and Beck's Flowers (Flowers, cards and gifts)
Hatome Studio ft. the artwork of Yolanta Gawlik and others
SE20 Craft (Photography coasters, cross stitch and greetings cards)
Anne Young (Knitted clothing for babies and children)
Never Felt Better
TrainStop Jewellery
Watercolours by Jo
The Kindu Trust (Jewellery)
Yo!JoJo Handmade (Cards, gifts, bunting)
SpotlessPinata Jewellery
Little Observationist Photography