So… last month we vended at our 7th Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. For us, it’s the easiest of all of our shows because…
- It’s practically in our backyard (Hampton, VA is only 4.5 hours away from our home).
- Our expenses are minimal compared to Paducah or Houston. Booth expenses, and even hotels & food are MUCH less expensive.
- This is the smallest of our shows, so there’s less product to pack up & transport, making this show the easiest of all of our shows to prepare & set up for.
So how did the show go?
Well first off, the foot traffic was markedly off from previous years. But was it really a surprise, with Hampton, VA being so close to several military bases, as well as Washington DC, and given the uncertainty in the economy right now? I think not!
All in all, I wouldn’t call it a bad show for us, but most of the vendors I spoke with agreed that the show was roughly 30-35% lower than previous years, (in terms of attendance AND sales), which is significant. (I’m hoping this isn’t indicative of how the rest of 2025 will be.)
But something very disturbing happened on Saturday, the third day of the show.
Someone on a rental scooter plowed into one of the supports in the quilt displays right across from us, which caused a chain reaction, causing the entire row of quilt displays to fall down AS WELL AS the back walls of three Vendor’s Booths!
Surely it was an accident, but I guess we’ll never know, since the driver of the scooter fled the scene. All I know is that the Vendor Booths involved has quite an abysmal mess to clean up through no fault of their own. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
And here’s the deal… we were actually on the receiving end of a similar incident w/a scooter driver in Houston several years ago. Our iron grid wall was totally knocked down, & the driver fled the scene, so I know first-hand how disconcerting & dangerous an incident like this can be. Fortunately this incident occurred late in the afternoon on Saturday, so the affected Vendors were able to reset their booths before the opening bell on Sunday. 🙂
So in summary…
While it was great to see & catch up with many of our longtime customers, the 2025 edition of the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest was “off” for us, and for the overwhelming majority of Vendors. We’re hoping this doesn’t turn out to be a trend for the rest of our 2025 shows.
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