Handmade Holiday > Register & Apply

Archive Mode. Call Handmade Holiday ended on 10/15/18, 11:59 PM. Call settings are read only. See Current Open Calls



Show Details

2018's Handmade Holiday is a 2-day show. We will be hosting the show on Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. The brewery is located at 2408 Owenby Street, Richmond, VA.

On Saturday, we will offer Early Bird hours to our shoppers at 10am. For a $5 donation to our non-profit partner Big Brothers Big Sisters, shoppers gain early access to our vendors. At 11am, the doors open to everyone for free. The show ends at 5pm. On Sunday we will not have Early Bird shopping. The show hours will be 11am-5pm on Sunday.


Application Due Date:

Applications are due on or before 11:59pm on October 15th, 2018.


Vendor Space:

All booths will be outside this year. Hardywood is a working brewery, and their production has grown to the point where we can't confirm the availability of adequate indoor space. All booths will be 6'x5' spaces, under two 40'x60' tents that will be heated and lit. Please do not bring your own tent as there will be no place to use it. In response to feedback from previous shows, we have dramatically increased the lighting rigs for the tent, and we have switched to clear walls to allow more external light into the space.

Since all tables are outdoors, there will be no electricity available for your booth. You know your work better than we do. While we are trying really, really hard to ensure that everything is spectacularly, beautifully lit, your work may require a particular amount of light. We encourage you to use battery-operated lights as you see fit. Please bring battery backups for your phone/payment system if you think you'll need it. Please do not bring generators. If you see an open outlet near you, that does not give you access to electricity. Due to the immense load of the heating and lighting we will already be using, we need to be careful not to trip the circuits at Hardywood (a lesson we have learned the hard way.) If we see unauthorized electric use, we will pull plugs with no warning. (We're not trying to be jerks. We have blown a lot of fuses, and we need to be mindful of the entire show's needs.) Thanks for your understanding.

You may select either a 2-day or 1-day booth when you apply. There is also a "no-preference" option, wherein we will try to fit you in to a 2-day slot, but will put you into a 1-day slot if that's what we have available. As with every jury process, we are trying to balance the show across categories and across days, to give both our vendors and our shoppers the best possible experience.

Your booth options in the application:
  • Outdoor small booth - Sat: Outside of the brewery, under a 40'x60' tent. This option comes with no access to electricity. This selection is for vendors who are exclusively interested in a Saturday table. This booth is $100.
  • Outdoor small booth - Sun: Outside of the brewery, under a 40'x60' tent. This option comes with no access to electricity. This selection is for vendors who are exclusively interested in a Sunday table. This booth is $100.
  • Outdoor small booth - Wkd: Outside of the brewery, under a 40'x60' tent. This option comes with no access to electricity. This selection is for vendors who are exclusively interested in a table for both Saturday and Sunday. This booth is $180.
  • Outdoor small booth - NP: This is for a "no preference" booth choice. Unless you mention it otherwise in the "special request" section (previous question above), we will assume that you would prefer a 2-day spot if available, but you will take a 1-day spot. We will assign you to a booth based on where we have space (please note we are doing our best to keep the show balanced, for the benefit of our customers and other vendors). If you are assigned a 2-day booth, you will be charged $180. If you are assigned to a 1-day booth, you will only be charged $100 for your spot. Your application will be edited by us to change it to the assigned booth type.
If you have a 2-day booth, you will not be able to leave your booth set up over night, as there will be no on-site security. (We will be closing up the tent walls so no one can get in, but do NOT leave anything valuable inside the tent if you are a 2-day vendor. Remember: those walls will be clear.)

If requested within the application, tables and chairs will be placed in each 6'x5' space before vendor arrival on the day of the show. There is no discount for vendors who choose not to use the provided table or chairs. Regardless of whether you choose to use the provided table and chairs, your booth MUST fit into the footprint of your assigned booth space.

Any special requests must be made a minimum of three weeks before the show, but it is preferred that special requests are indicated on your application.


Booth Map:

Vendors will receive notification of their table location about a week before the show via email.


Electricity:

Once more with feeling: Since all tables are outdoors, there will be no electricity available for your booth. You know your work better than we do. While we are trying really, really hard to ensure that everything is spectacularly, beautifully lit, your work may require a particular amount of light. We encourage you to use battery-operated lights as you see fit. Please bring battery backups for your phone/payment system if you think you'll need it. Please do not bring generators. If you see an open outlet near you, that does not give you access to electricity. Due to the immense load of the heating and lighting we will already be using, we need to be careful not to trip the circuits at Hardywood (a lesson we have learned the hard way.) If we see unauthorized electric use, we will pull plugs with no warning. (We're not trying to be jerks. We have blown a lot of fuses, and we need to be mindful of the entire show's needs.) Thanks for your understanding.


Application Fee:

$15 is due with application submission. The application fee is non-refundable. You will be charged the $15 app fee as soon as you click the button at the bottom of the "Add Entry Details" page (the page where you enter your credit card info). HOWEVER, you still need to load your photos on the next page before your application is considered complete and before it will be in the jury pool. You can come back later to add your photos, though we recommend you add them now.


Jury Process:

The Handmade Holiday Craft Show will be juried to ensure quality & variety. We expect to receive more applications than spaces available in the show. AMAZING PHOTOS are the most important part of your craft show application. We can not provide individual feedback on submitted applications. The Richmond Craft Mafia is a volunteer organization that must put all available resources into organizing and promoting our shows.

Notification of acceptance will be sent via email no later than October 22nd, 2018.


Paying Your Booth Fee:

Payments will be due no later than October 26th for accepted applicants. You will need to log back in to this application system to pay your booth fee.

Note: No time extensions will be offered to pay the booth fee. If you do not pay on time, your booth will be offered to someone on our waitlist, and your application will be changed to a waitlist status. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CAN RECEIVE OUR EMAILS. If you don't receive an email acknowledging that you've registered with our application site (which will automatically send when you complete the next page), please check the settings on your email account now, and check the spam/junk/trash folder on your account as appropriate. If you fail to receive our notification emails, we cannot be held responsible for the fact that you might miss an important deadline-driven email in the future.


Waitlist:

There will be a waitlist of applicants who will be notified if a table space becomes available. Contacted waitlist applicants will have three days to pay the vendor fee and commit to the show. After three days, the table space will be offered to the next applicant on the waitlist.


Cancellations:

Once your Vendor Fee is received, it can not be refunded. If you can not participate in the show for any reason, please contact RVACraftMafia [at!] gmail.com as soon as possible. Failure to do so could impact your ability to participate in future Richmond Craft Mafia events.


Cheat Sheet:

Still reading? Cool. We've got some super-secret tips for you. These blog posts were written in 2014 ahead of our Spring Bada-Bing show, but they're still so relevant that it's not even worth rewriting them. Some of the numbers are slightly different (our app fee bumped up a touch, the number of booths changes for every show, that kind of thing...) but to reward your diligent reading, we're resharing these to help you perfect your application. Send us beautiful apps. Make our decision process as hard as possible, that's how we get the best show possible. And we love you all.

Decisions, Decisions - a post about how we go through the jury process, and what you can do to help your app rise to the top
The Waiting Game - specifically about what it means to be on our waitlist, but includes even more info about crafting a better app (see what I did there?)


Ok, Let's Go:

Please direct questions about this application to: RVACraftMafia [at!] gmail.com
To begin your application, click a button in the upper right corner. If you've already used the ArtCall system, you can use the Login button, otherwise, click Register.