Archive Mode. Call Handmade Holiday ended on 10/21/19, 11:59 PM. Call settings are read only. See Current Open Calls
2019's Handmade Holiday is a 2-day show. We will be hosting the show on Saturday, December 7th and Sunday, December 8th at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. The brewery is located at 2408 Owenby Street, Richmond, VA. The show is inside and outside the brewery this year. We are back in the ORIGINAL building for this show (the one on the left), and in the parking lot in front of it.
Early Bird shopping begins at 10am on Saturday only for a $5 donation to our community partner, RACC Foundation. 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.
The Richmond Craft Mafia embraces diversity and the value it adds to the world. We expect our vendors to demonstrate respect and we reserve the right to remove those who do not meet our community standards.
Handmade Holiday is a juried craft show. All work must be original, handcrafted, and exhibited by the artist. Our customers expect personal contact with the artist, and we do not allow representatives to sell on your behalf. Artist attendance is expected through the entire show.
Applications are due on or before 11:59pm on October 21st, 2019.
You can indicate a preference in location and day when you choose your booth. You can also choose no preference for any/all options, and we will find the best space to fit you into the show when we go through our jury process. To see the details for all the choices when you're selecting your booth, click the small blue question mark to the left of the dropdown, and that will show and hide all the booth options.
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 zipping up the tent and the tables and chairs will remain where they are, but do NOT leave anything valuable overnight if you are a 2-day vendor. The brewery will remain open after our show hours end.
For outdoor spaces, we will be under one larger tent than we have used in the past, which will be heated and lit. Please do not bring your own tent as there will be no place to use it.
Electricity will be available indoors in limited quantities, and regardless of whether you are indoors or out, 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 choose within the app to have one table (6' x 2.5') and two chairs available in your space before your arrival, and there is no additional cost for these items. There is no discount for vendors who choose not to use our table or chairs. Regardless of whether you choose to use what we provide, 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.
Set Up will begin no earlier than 8 am on Saturday, and 9 am on Sunday. (But we'll have coffee, bagels, and doughnuts, so there's a bright side.) We will stagger vendor arrivals so there isn't a mad rush all at once, and details will be included in the vendor packet you will receive the week of the show. We have cultivated a reputation for a beautiful, well-run craft show. Therefore, we ask that your table be ready for customers no later than 9:30 am on Saturday and 10:30 am on Sunday. Failure to comply may result in us deleting your table from the show, even if you show up before doors open. Please be considerate to our customers and your fellow vendors.
You may not break down your booth prior to close of the show at 5pm. Loading out prior to that time means you will not be invited back for future shows. If you need help, please let us know, it's what we're here for. We can't leave until you do, so we're motivated to help you get home too.
You will need to choose both a category and a subcategory. Since some people have applied in the wrong category in the past (which negatively impacts our ability to jury some beautiful work), please read through these categories so that you'll have a good idea of which to select on your application. There are only three categories with defined subcategories. For the others, please select the "All <Category>" in the subcategory dropdown, as the subcategory field can't be left blank.
Here are our categories, subcategories, and their corresponding descriptions:
2-D: Prints, Drawings, Paintings, Paper Goods, etc.
Home Goods: Pretty stuff for your place (Planters, Furniture, Wood Decor, Textiles, etc.)
Pottery & Glassware: Ceramics, glassware, etc.
Clothing: Shirts, skirts, pants, dresses, etc.
Accessories: Your personality, but in tangible form. (Scarves, belts, bags, wallets, etc.)
Kids' Items: Toys, clothes, baby gear, cute things
Bath & Body: Things to keep you smelling pretty. (Soaps, lotions, perfumes, etc.)
Jewelry: Baubles and bling
Food Gifts: Excludes food trucks. Please contact Hardywood directly to participate in the Food Truck Court.
Vendors will receive notification of their table location about a week before the show via email.
Once more with feeling: electricity will only be available for vendors inside. If you are outdoors, there will be no electricity available for your booth. Please take that into account as you apply. Regardless of your booth location, 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.
$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.
The Handmade Holiday Craft Show will be juried to ensure quality & variety. 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.
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 26th, 2019.
Payments will be due no later than November 1st 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?)
