MAQF 2023: the Recap

So… with the 2023 version of the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in our rear view mirror, it’s time for the requisite show “recap”. And here’s the deal… I can sum up the MAQF in four words…

It was REALLY Great!

So here’s the way our booth looked prior to the opening bell for Day 1. And yes, from the outside looking in, it looks fairly similar to our other recent setups, but I actually got several comments from customers who indicated that they loved the way our booth looks with the white background curtains. But here’s the deal… white curtains are what comes automatically with the booth at the **MAQF** show and in **Houston** (blue curtains are the standard issue in **Paducah**). And since curtains are “shared” with side & back neighbors at these shows, the only way you can change the color of your curtains is to bring or rent your own poles & railings, which we only bother to do in **Houston**. But that makes me wonder… which booth look do YOU favor?

The white background featured above, or the black background we utilize in Houston?

And in a previous post I showed you a new, behind-the-counter setup I was trying for this show. You can’t tell how it looked in ANY of these pictures (because I neglected to take any behind-the-scenes pictures) but I brought two wider & longer tables this time in hopes of providing myself to be more organized in how I laid out the notions kits (in particular). But here’s the deal… I wasn’t particularly happy with this experiment for two reasons.

First of all, that extra width & length on the table did more harm than it did good because it ate up a good deal of our living area back there…. in an annoying way! 😐
And secondly, it caused nothing but problems in how are “stuff” fit into the back of our Highlander… it was, in a couple of words, a “pain in the neck” It’s hard to believe how that extra 6 inches in width and 2 ft in length could cause so much difficulty, but believe me when I say that this was an experiment we’ll never try again!

I didn’t hear any official attendance numbers but I do think the crowd was larger than last year and that’s good. It may have had something to do with the fact that this was the 1st **MAQF** (post-Covid) where we weren’t required to wear masks. There were also a few more Vendors than last year and that’s great, although a few of them were a bit of a surprise to see at a “Quilter’s” convention….
ie; massage pillows? honey teas? herbs? bee products?

But there have been other reasons that some “regular” Vendors have been absent from the last few **MAQF**‘s. This year for example, **AQS Daytona Beach** and **Quilt Con** held their events during the exact same weekend as **MAQF**! I realize that some of these scheduling issues are due to venue constraints but it just seems like ALL of them could benefit by scheduling consequetive events rather than competing for the same Vendors & attendees.

On an encouraging note, I noticed that AQS Daytona has announced that next year their convention will run from February 23rd – 26th and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival will start one week later on February 29th and run thru March 3rd. This will allow Vendors to display at BOTH shows and attendees to travel to BOTH shows should they desire to do so and many of them do! Sounds like a WIN-WIN for ALL of us, right?

`And finally, we’re already starting to get ready for the AQS Paducah KY show which starts on 4/27/23 where we’d love to meet up with as many of you as possible! And here’s some EXCITING NEWS! We enjoyed doing this SO much at MAQF that we’re announcing that EVERYONE who comes to our booth at AQS Paducah wearing a bag made from one of our patterns will get 10% off their entire purchase! See ya there!

And now, it’s YOUR turn!

Have YOU attended any shows post-Covid yet? And we’d love to know what show is your absolute favorite to attend and why? Please feel free to share your comments or questions in the space provide below. 🙂

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