My church is putting on a Spring Fling and plan to include a craft show, tenatively the end of April .  We have a large Life Center that we are going to dedicate to the craft show.  Being newbies at it, our first question is:  How do I find vendors?  Other than word-of-mouth, I don’t know where to start to ensure a great turnout.  Can someone please tell me where to start?  I live in Alabama and would love some form of directory, etc, of craft vendors to contact about it.  :-)

Thanks so much to anyone who can help.

I work with coordinating craft shows at the church I attend (Wichita, Ks.) I started by posting the information on this website (as a promoter) and also on Craftmasters.com. I also have started putting the information on Face Book and have had several people contact me about becoming a craft vendor that way. Our church has had other programs and has a database of churches in the area with contact information. I have sent fliers to those churches looking for vendors. This will also let the other churches know about your upcoming event.  I also go to other craft shows and handout business cards (I am a craft vendor also) and information about upcoming shows. (This might not work for your April show but would be a good idea for future shows/vendors) If you go to the craft shows and hand out fliers and pick up vendor business cards, then you can see what the vendor has to offer, quality of products, and if their prices would fit into your show.

I hope that this will help. It’s a slow process…but if you can get those “core vendors” then you will be set.

Good luck,
Kathy Pugh