In the short 19 or so months of MB's existence, I've been to a LOT of outdoor events.  Street fairs.  Music festivals.  Arts and crafts shows.  Events with historical flavor.  Or mushroom-y flavor :)  All sorts of events.  Some small.  Some big.  Some *really* big.

So ... even when you know that MB is going to be at an event, how do you *find* it?

When we started in Dec of 2006 at the 4th Ave Winter Street Fair in Tucson AZ, I advertised in the local weekly paper, and sent letters out to all sorts of Tucson folks:  midwives;  doulas;  lactation consultants;  OBs;  politicians;  print and radio media;  WIC offices ... LOTS of folks.  So they knew to be looking for me and MB.  And then I went around to some of the local shops and asked if I could put a sign in their window letting folks know MB existed, the service we provide, and where our booth would be.

That last bit of info was important.  This event is a juried art/craft show, and as I am not an artist, and MB offers for sale items that I did not make myself, we cannot have our booth out on the street with the other vendors.  Which left only the option of finding space in one of the 'scab' parking lots that touch 4th Ave. So that's what I did.  For that event MB had a booth in the far back corner of the parking lot.  Far.  Back.  Corner.  As in, not remotely possible to see from the street.

We did okay.

The next event was also in Tucson, on 4th Avenue.  It was the Spring Street Fair.  I was able to secure a spot closer to the event proper - it was halfway back in the parking lot rather than all the way back.  But the orientation of the booth was not as good, either.  Can't have everything, I guess.

We did okay that time, too.  At the next 4th Ave event I moved again - this time to a spot almost exactly across from the one I'd had previously.  I did this primarily to get out of the sun, which had beat down on me all day each day of the previous fair.  Now it was at my back.  Whew.

That was not the last time I'd be stuck staring into the sun all day during an event.  By a long shot.

Other events had other location challenges.  I'd ask for shade if it was available, only to see that the booth next to me offering free Avon samples was in the only shade to be found, while I (and far more important, the moms and babies who came to use the booth!) was left to swelter.  Or I'd ask for electricity to run fans and find that the lamp post next to the booth where I should have been able to plug in was either for a 220 plug or was for some reason not working ...

Then there are the events that located the booth ages away from the main event.  They meant well, giving us a spot with shade and easy electricity - or at least easy electricity - but the booth was hidden from the attendees by either a row of booths on the street or by actual buildings.

We didn't do so well at those events.  Location was 95% of the reason why.  But I didn't reach out as much for advertising our presence at either of those events as I had done for the first events MB attended.  Advertising is expensive!

Moving forward I'm going to step up my efforts to advertise ... inexpensively.  But I'm also going to advocate much harder for the location of the booth.  For this winter's 4th Ave Street Fair I've finally moved all the way up to a booth ON THE STREET.  Not actually IN the street, where the juried show is.  But on the street, at the front edge of the parking lot, facing the show, rather than hiding back in the middle or the far side.  Time to see just how much location matters.

Because this might be the last time MB participates in that event ... it is one that still sees MB as a 'regular' vendor rather than as a service that exists to provide for *their* attendees.  We'll see what difference location makes.  Because I love this event.

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