u/rraccoons

Yesterday I attended a show ive done four times before and holy crap was it different. Its one of those shows that once you’re accepted, you get priority to all their events and you can sign up for all of em. I prepped for 2 straight up weeks, working 12 hour days to get everything done because ive sold out in previous years.

This year, the first red flag was the event randomly pulled their ads and other posts with their old logo and they decided to use some ai generated one instead. People began commenting on the new posts asking why ai. The event reacted incredibly poorly and started posting random vendors art saying “is this ai?? i guess none of you know what hand craft is!” when some of the “art” they were posting was very obviously ai.

Still, its a small town where people look forward to this event all year and sometimes the line wraps around the building. I set up with high hopes, I even dress up for the event to match the themeing. I’m placed next to a crystal vendor whose items are from aliexpress and most of it is dyed quartz labeled as all number of types of crystals. On my other side is a couple seemingly reselling hobby lobby decor but with some stuff glued on or painted.

The market starts off like normal with a flood of people but then 20 mins in its slowww. Because of it being so slow I got to wander the aisles and id say that every aisle had at least 4 vendors selling ai bullshit in some manner. All of the con classics that people despise is on display, stolen art tumblers, booths full of stolen art pins that were like 4 for $10, 3D printed crap with the same old designs (dragons etc), temu/aliexpress dice resellers whose prices really hurt a friend of mine who makes incredible handmade dice.

Two tables in particular broke my heart, seeing them genuinely felt like a punch to the gut. One vendor was selling AI books that were entirely written and illustrated by AI. When people recognized it and spoke positively about ai he’d gladly and excitedly talk about how accessible AI has made writing and publishing but when questioned by others about the art etc he’d tell them that he spends 100s of dollars on artists and that only one artist he uses does collage by using stock photo packs and the rest are drawn.

The other vendor that made me feel gross was someone selling animal portraits that you could pick up same day. They’d just take your pet pic and stick it in a generator and you could choose from various styles. Then they’d print it and stick it in a fancy frame. This booth was popping off!! It was insane! I could not believe how many people were completely fine and excitedly paying for something like that.

It was nuts to go around just noticing how little people care. Booths whose products dont make sense to sell AI shirts or totes were such a headscratcher. If someone’s selling some metaphysical service, why would they think people want the vendor’s faces as ai chibi designs on a shirt…?

Anyways, in two days I made $415 profit. This is the worst ive done at a show in years. All the weeks of prep, driving 3 hours every day to the event. I am honestly feeling broken, I cant believe that my ethics and sense of integrity were seemingly the outlier at an event that I used to enjoy. Typically, I do really well in these niche interest shows, and events in general. I’m proud of everything that I do and people respond well, other vendors are always telling me that my items are so cool and unique and that my set up is nice. Not to say I’m subsisting on compliments but ive never been on the recieving end of being consoled about a disappointing market.

Its really humiliating for vendor neighbors to tell me like aw you did great! Its ok not every show is a sell out. The event was much slower than all previous years, and its awful to know that every ounce of good will that they had has gone down the toilet. The quality of vendors and the pricing brought in a lot of kids and families, older folk, people that were looking for a farmers market vibe with just stuff to look at and something cheap to pick up for funsies. And the demographic of people typically attracted to my work seemed a lot different.

The fee is honestly generous, part of the reason I like this show but I just feel sort of ousted from what I felt like was my community. There were far less artists this year, more resellers and honestly random booths. I know several vendor friends who were disappointed to get rejected due to space, its miserable to think about hard working artists getting rejected in favor of a whole load of bull. Why did AI book guy get accepted when a friend who makes honestly insane embroidery get rejected? Why were there 3 freeze dried candy people?

I seemed so bummed that vendor friends were coming to hug me and it all felt like i’d lost something special in a way I cant describe. Further embarrassing is here’s me just humiliated over making what I did, and then hearing another vendor say that his show was awful and he’s used to making 3-400 at this event and this year his profit was just okay. For this guy, $400 is a good event. For me it’s the worst I’ve done in years.

Hearing someone else’s perspective had me feeling

just that much more guilty and embarrassed. I really cannot comprehend how someone could be stoked with working an event for 7 hours not including set up and breakdown for 2 days and then taking home less than minimum wage after the booth fee.

Thanks for reading, I’d love to hear anyone else’s perspective or if anyone else has ever had to cope with something like this.