Yarndale 2018 - just, wow!!
People tried to tell us to be "ready" for Yarndale, to be "prepared" for Yarndale, to make sure we have enough stock for Yarndale..... well! All I can say is that you have to see it to believe it!
Yarndale 2018 was everything and a million things more than we ever imagined. It's vibe is awesome, it's creative, it's friendly, it's crazy, manic, fun, colourful, bright, cold, atmospheric, festival like, buzzing and so much more!
It's hard to put into words so this is a bullet list of our favourite things that happened....
- When we arrived we bumped into Lucy from Attic 24 and she KNEW WHO WE WERE! She told us that our customers had been asking the Yarndale committee if Stationery Geek would be there this year so she was so happy we applied! (This made our Lucy's weekend, she is a major Attic 24 fan!)
- Everyone, and we mean everyone, greets you like a long lost friend, they are happy to see you and they want to chat, and we love to chat! We made loads of friends, we had selfies taken with customers, we got hugs just because they were pleased to see us, we laughed ALL weekend! The queues started building up from 8:30am of people eager to get in...
- Our balloons worked soooooo well! We only thought of taking giant helium letter balloons a few days before we set off for Skipton, we got them blown up just before the card shop closed on the Friday night and had to walk them through Skipton town centre back to our van, so we got one or two curious glances! We had no idea if they would stay up or if they would stay still - but they did! Our Instagram feed has since been full of photo's of our giant golden GEEK and our favourite moment was overhearing a lady on the phone trying to explain to her friend where she was by saying "I'm under the golden geek letters!"
- Even outside of the actual show we met fellow "Yarndalers" wherever we went. We enjoyed a lovely meal at the Two Sisters Bar and Kitchen on the Friday night after we'd set up. We noticed the ladies at the table next to us had knitted shawls on, sure enough they were there for Yarndale so we soon got chatting! Two of them had come from Australia purposely over this weekend so they could incorporate Yarndale into their trip! They then came to visit us on the stall the following day and it was like having some old friends popping in - lovely!
- The little touches at Yarndale add so much to the atmosphere. There is bunting absolutely everywhere, the mandala display, the fabulous double decker bus, the yarn trail from the station, the little band playing in the Lairage all add up to make Yarndale extra special.
- As we only have an online shop it was so great to meet our customers in real life, and to see their response to our products. We had nothing but positive feedback which was such a boost for us.
- We had a brilliant spot on row B. As soon as the doors opened we had customers, and as we were so near the bus stop we got a fresh influx of people every few minutes! Some other shows we've done have had quiet spells, but not Yarndale! This was Lucy's view from her corner on the stand...
- Every time we do a show it's like setting up our stand for the first time! Every space you get is different and you have to figure out the best way to use the area you're given. We tried some new display tactics and loved how they turned out, like our greetings card washing line...
And our orange and white branding really stood out....
Geri made some lovely friends...
- We had absolutely NO idea how much stock to bring with us, we are still new to the "show scene" really so we don't have a lot of experience to draw from! We actually took 105 of our Crochet Project Bibles with us, and we ended on the Sunday with only 1 left! We did panic on Saturday when they were going down so fast, we didn't want to run out for the Sunday visitors!
- So all in all our weekend at Yarndale was a great success, we loved every single second.... well, Lucy didn't love getting locked in the bathroom at our holiday cottage....
but it was most definitely a memorable experience! So now we just need to cross our fingers that Yarndale will allow us to come back next year!
Lastly, we would like to say a great big thank you to all of our fab customers, those that bombarded the committee with emails asking if we would be there, those that visited us on the stall, those that purchased, those that shared us or tagged us on social media.... all of you are wonderful and it was so nice to meet you all!
If you came to see us we'd love to hear your favourite part of the weekend, comment below and let us know!
Lucy, Mel and Geri xxxx
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