No, they didn't actually have a show in January. This happened way back in October, 2013. I forgot to review it because it was the final show of the season and I got caught up in other stuff.
Intro
Utica is a one-day event. This means you don't get the luxury of setting up the booth the day before and waking up to the having the most exhausting thing to do the next morning is unzip the booth. No such luck here. You show up at 7:00am, set up the booth, put on your dog and pony show for seven hours, then pack up and go home at 5:00pm. Swift, efficient, and utterly exhausting.
Setup
I asked for a booth spot on the grass, and they put me slap-bang in the center of the show. Yay! Grass =tent stakes = my booth won't fall over!I spent the first 20 minutes deciding whether I should assemble the entire canopy, or just stand up the panels (like I did in Lawton 2010 when I forgot my roof). One advantage of this show is that we're not confined to a 10' x 10' square, and going without the canopy helps take advantage of that luxury.
The weather was great, the location was great, the music was great...
So, how did it go?
Ehhh... maybe this should be a two-day show. I don't know what went wrong, but sales were just flat. Was my sprawling booth too confusing? Were my new prices too high? Did everybody else think the same thing as Scott Kelby: "it's all over the place" (not just in booth layout, but in subject matter)?I chatted with neighbors, and they were having a similar day. We were doing everything right. We had lots of lookers, but the fish just weren't biting.Heck, I didn't even overhear any weird quotes from the show.Just keep on keeping on, I guess.