How to Organize a Craft Fair or Vendor Show (and Let Vendors Pick Their Booth)

A good craft fair looks effortless from the aisle. Behind it is someone who answered two hundred emails, redrew the floor plan a dozen times, and settled three arguments about who gets the corner by the door.

Most of that work comes from a handful of decisions made late or made twice. This guide walks through them in order, for a first-year church bazaar or an established show with a hundred booths.

1. Decide what kind of show it is

• Handmade only, or open to resellers and direct sales? Decide now and put it in writing. This is the question that causes the most friction later.
• Juried or open? A juried show reviews applications and accepts the best mix. An open show takes vendors first come, first served until it is full. Open is simpler for a first year.
• How big? Count the booths your space really holds, with aisles, before you promise a number. Then decide how many of each category you want, so you do not end up with twelve candle makers.
• Who is it for? A holiday market, a spring fair and a card show attract different shoppers and different vendors.

2. Work backward from the date

A small first-year fair needs three to four months. A larger or outdoor show needs six or more.

3. Write a vendor application that answers your questions once

Every question you leave off the application becomes an email later. Ask for:

• Business name, contact name, email and phone.
• What they sell, with photos or a link. For a handmade show, ask them to confirm they make it themselves.
• Booth size or type, and how many.
• Whether they need power, and whether they bring their own tables, chairs and canopy.
• Any neighbor preferences: someone they would like to be next to, or not next to.
• Sales tax permit or business license number, if your state or venue requires it.
• Proof of insurance, if your venue requires it.
• Agreement to your rules: setup and teardown times, staying until close, the refund policy.

4. Price the booths

Start from your costs (venue, tables, insurance, advertising) divided by the booths you expect to fill, then look at what similar shows nearby charge.

• Charge more for better spots. Corners, end caps and booths near the entrance are worth more, and vendors know it. A simple two or three tier price list is enough.
• Charge for power if only some booths have it.
• Offer an early price to fill the first half of the floor quickly. A full-looking vendor list recruits the rest.
• Be clear about refunds. A common policy is a full refund up to a date, then none.

5. Lay out the floor

• Measure the room and mark doors, exits, pillars, the stage and where power is.
• Ask your venue or fire marshal about required aisle widths and exits before you draw anything.
• Put a strong draw at the back so shoppers walk the whole floor.
• Spread similar vendors out instead of grouping them.
• Number every booth, and use the same numbers on the map, the floor and the vendor's confirmation.

6. Let vendors pick their own booth

The traditional way is to collect applications, then assign booths yourself. It gives you control, and it makes you the person every vendor emails about their spot.

The alternative is to publish the map and let vendors choose. They see what is open and what each spot costs, pick one, and pay. The best spots go to the vendors who commit first, which is a rule nobody argues with. You keep the right to hold back booths for sponsors or returning vendors, and to move someone if you need to.

7. Communicate, then run the day

• Send one clear email a week before: booth number, load-in time and door, parking, wifi, who to call.
• Have a check-in table for vendors with a list sorted by business name.
• Walk the floor in the first hour and fix problems while they are small.
• Ask vendors two questions before they leave: would you come back, and what would you change? Their answers are next year's plan.

How to run it in Regify

1. Start from a template or describe your show. Regify has a card show starter, or you can describe your event in a sentence or two and it drafts the booth types, prices and vendor questions.
2. Draw the floor. Add your room, then place booths one at a time or in whole rows. You can pick a ready-made layout or describe your space ("a gym with four back-to-back rows of 10x10 booths and a stage at one end") and adjust from there. Add walls, doors, the stage and restrooms so vendors can read the map.
3. Set booth types and prices. Standard, corner, end cap, each with its own color and price. The map shows price and availability at a glance.
4. Turn on vendor self-select. Vendors open your event, choose a booth on the map and pay. The booth is held for them while they check out, and released if they do not finish.
5. Ask your vendor questions. Add the application questions to the registration form, including a logo upload and what they sell. Questions can appear only for certain booth types.
6. Hold booths back. Block booths for sponsors or returning vendors. Blocked booths show as taken on the public map, and you can still place someone there yourself.
7. Publish the exhibitor list. Shoppers can browse a directory of vendors with logos and find them on the map, and each vendor gets a link to update their own listing.
8. Show day. Check vendors in by name or QR code from a phone.

See the map in action on our expo and vendor show page.