Last weekend I participated in my first “makers market” at Evergreen Brickworks for both Saturday and Sunday. In summary it was a great experience and a good introduction to the world of not just selling products, but interacting with all different types of visitors.
I was interested in what people thought of my wood creations because I’ve been on the opposite side many many times and strolled by vendors without really thinking too much about what went into their products.
I heard some great stories about how people could relate to using reclaimed wood that ordinarily would’ve gone to the city dump. I even talk to some folks who wanted to build furniture themselves and I was more than happy to share some tips and things that I’ve learned in putting these products together.
I also met some great people that were other vendors at the market. I have to hand it to the Brickworks (especially Kelly who seemed to work day and night to make sure that everything went off smoothly) they work hard to curate a very good mix of vendors not only for the experience of visitors but also to create the right feeling that supports the Evergreen Brickworks mission.
The other vendors I talked to said that it was very well organized and one of the top markets that they attended this season. The presence of many high-end food trucks with fantastic food didn’t hurt the overall atmosphere either.
I view this experience as a learning opportunity to talk to people and get a sense of what their interests were. I actually had a lot of fun and the time went by very quickly. I also have to add that my square point of sale device worked flawlessly and because of the way the website is set up it automatically updates the inventory available on there when something is sold physically at the market.
It was a lot of work to prepare everything for the weekend and my hats go off to the vendors who do this on a regular basis.
And Next time when I go to market I will be much more attuned not just to the way something looks but the story of what went into its creation!
