my wife and i are probably going to do some of the gilmores craftsmen shows and/or the made inthe south shows promoted by others....and notice that in the virginia area anyway there are literally overlapping shows in same locations AND dates but just different event venues being done by the promotor vashowsinc........they seem to be putting on what appear to be somewhat equal quality shows....per their literature....seem to come in about a hundred dollars or so under the aforementioned shows......here's my question.....they DON"T seem to be listed in SA in the rankings......but the gilmore/made in the south shows are always pretty highly rated......can anyone lend insight here??....been to either or both??...our money is tight and we can't really afford to gamble ....feel that IF we get into one of the more 'established' gilmore/MITS shows......that are held concurrent that one of us should at least break away and SEE the vashows representation.....but if someone can offer us their two cents worth in here that MIGHT save us a few dollars more...not to mention the time and headache of one of us leavnig during one show we are active in to see one we are not??.....thanks so much in advance y'all...good luck and happy shows in 2012......gary...sunrise baskets

The Virginia craft show is a folk art and food show. We did it in 2010 and attendance was awful.
Even the vendors giving away food complained

thanks for replying phyllis, you said the magic word..........attendance.......without people we are just making things and sitting around talking to other vendors.......NOT selling.....and in OUR case it's about making money selling baskets....laffs
so tell me/us please if you will??
have you done one of the other shows i mentioned??.(made in the south or craftsmen's classic?)...
and what is it y'all do??....
thanks again.....and good luck to you this year....gary

Contemporary Fashion Jewelry-We haven't done the other shows.

Do not waste your time with this show.....Gilmore is a well established promoter and delivers a nice show with decent attendance, if you can get into their show, I would highly recommend them. I made the mistake of doing the VA shows inc show early on as a newbie and you could not pay me to do their show again........They are more concerned with filling spaces than putting on a quality art show. Most of the buyers who come to this show are more concerned about getting a deal versus buying hand made quality art.

thanks both of y'all for responding....we've sorta figured that both the made in the south folks and the gilmores were good decent promotors that we would like to see host us from time to time and show by show as we are able to be at.....we are currently signed up for the gilmore shows at columbia and richmond the first two weeks of march and recently attended the savannah made in the south show ......we knew going to savannah that we might not make our expenses for a number of reasons none of which had ANYTHING to do with the promotor....you can tell by what you read/hear when you have a promotor who cares about their customers.....US....while we DID make our booth fee andn most of our expenses we didn't fully cover all our expenses but that was mostly because of our staying an extra day in charlseton for a break and an extra day after the show in savannah for another break...
the hunts provided free coffee free parking and offered for all vendors half off any concession purchases other than coffee......not too shabby an offering....we were visited several times by one or more of the promotors and/or their representative...and had the chance to talk with them about other shows in their 'stable'.....we don't know right now if the fall savannah show will be for us THIS year but DO believe the hunts made in the south shows will all be similar in presentation and professionalism......
as to the gilmore shows......we'll expect about the same and hope for a little better sales...we will have fewer expenses and so while still a spring show which we know won't bring as much as a fall/christmas one...and hope to come out on the plus side these times....wish us luck...luck to you all...gary