So this was an event I signed up for pretty last minute. I am in the Facebook group for the Gigi-ology Events and had seen all the advertising that was being done locally and felt it was probably worth trying since they had some space. I will also note that when I was driving back from my event in St Cloud on the February 10th, I saw the advertisement on the big screen! They really put a lot of work into this from a planning perspective so I definitely had some hope.
Having done the event now, I am still undecided on whether it was good or bad.
Before the Event & Setup
Since I applied late, I didn't get an invite to the specific vendor group they had set up for this exact event until well.. the week of the event. I had no idea this was a thing but it was definitely interesting since I am used to getting emails with the information.
In order to get any information, you have to join the group. Information posted in the group was what your load in time was, how long you had to load in and where to park your vehicle. The location we were at had horrible parking. I downloaded the pics from the group so you can see what we were working with.
Since it's a weekend, there were also people at Jumpn Gymnastics and I think that also added on to our parking lot issues. I had a few customers complain to me that being able to come and park was a problem in itself.
My husband dropped me off so I didn't have to park or deal with any of that nonsense. I did bring my wagon, he carried my table because he's amazing like that and left. Since my load in time was at 8:30am from door C, I really just kinda setup super casually. The majority of my setup is always getting pins onto my spinning rack.
We didn't have pre-assigned areas so it was a guess as to where we would be. I had expected to be near my husband's family who was there but we were nowhere near each other. I did get lucky and had extremely awesome booth neighbors. I think this is where I do silly things like A++ would both next to again, right? :D
Since I had the time to walk around, I made sure I knew where the bathroom was. I feel dumb now, but at the time when I went there was a sign on a wall that said women's next to a door. Clearly it meant women's was on that side and that the door was just for something else. I can be slow about noticing things sometimes. Bathroom was large.
There was a game going on which immediately had me concerned that we'd be hearing the loud whistling for the rest of the morning but it did eventually let up. 
One thing I found out and didn't mention yet was we had to contribute to a raffle that was going on. I've had some Kickstarter leftover enamel pins since 2021 (the mermaids) and contributed 2 of those, some puffer fish pins of those along with a coloring page and crayons so that it still had a decent value for what was donated. We received a pad to have people submit to the raffle and no one filled mine out, just borrowed my pen I had out. I think if I'd known sooner, I could have made something up to advertise it, but I really had no idea. I bet it was probably on the application and I forgot so this is probably a me thing so oops. I don't know if all the events hosted by her are like this but I guess we shall see!
The raffle was set up to be going on the entire day as a way to encourage people to stick around longer. As you can see from the setup, people were being texted every 30 minutes. I didn't think to take a picture where you can read the full directions so.. just make something up and that's probably what it says. People who won the raffle were still shopping though and very excited so I will say it made the event enjoyable for quite a few people I spoke to. I guess I actually didn't pay much attention to this early on, especially since it was so loud I couldn't really hear the speaker throughout the day.
The Event Itself
I think despite everything the foot traffic was consistent. I got a visit from one of my former WoW discord mods (Misatke) and his adorable son (thank you!).
I wanted to be super upset at this event. I was definitely miserable in the morning because of the game, the lack of any heat where I was, how loud it was, and the fact the venue just didn't seem like the type you'd really want to be at for any sort of shopping. Let's be real, I was very grouchy about it until probably 10:30am when I got my first sale. I will say that having a very social kind booth neighbor that reminded me of my mom helped. When we had down time we chatted a lot.
Also for those who know my gripes from discord, I hate being next to 3d printed booths because I feel like my stuff always feels extra expensive. Remember my last blog? Yeah the people who had the super popular booth at the Granite City event were actually at this one and I have a name this time haha. They are Alley Cat Compositions! I spent a long time talking to the owners and they were also pretty new to events and had the cutest kid! I was even gifted this flexible 3d printed corgi.
I met so many fantastic people I think this is what really sold me on what the event coordinator can actually do and that the venue itself was probably a larger issue. I also know PopCats was going on this weekend, we had gone Saturday to check it out, but it was a two day event. It's unlikely that it impacted attendance here but I can still make that excuse anyways. Ramsey is kind of the middle of nowhere anyways, so that was probably a bigger issue. It wasn't a super easy location to get to unless you lived in the area and there just wasn't enough parking as mentioned before.
Honestly, it became 3pm pretty fast. For an event that started off poorly (to me), it ended up being pretty good. I also need to remember to bring bandages at least for when I accidentally cut my finger.
What Worked & What Did Not
The venue itself is not one I'd like to be at again. Parking lacked and it was cold.
The people were great. More people chatted with me than usual and this really sealed the deal for me for quality of who was in attendance.
People didn't realize I made my own products and finally two different people said something about it. So I think this is a me issue but this crowd being so chatty really brought that forward in a big way for me so I have to work on that.
Conclusion
I'm super mixed on how I feel about this event overall. I hated the location, the lack of heat and the fact sports were going on next to us with only a net separating us. However, I could tell the coordinator really put in the effort to get people there and also have vendors who were of a wide variety. It was something people really liked.
The crowd was amazing and I didn't lose money. Would I sign up for an event again? Probably? I liked her show I attended at Courtyards of Andover, but I will NEVER sign up for any event that is at this location again no matter who is hosting. I think I am about to start discriminating against venues.
The Details (TLDR)
Event: Gigi-ology Love to Shop Craft & Vendor Show
Date: February 18, 2024
Location: Adrenaline Sports Center, 8310 147 Ln NW, Ramsey, MN 55303
Hours: 10am-3pm CST
Total Vendors: 70
Attendance: ~100-200
Travelworthy: Worth a 15-20 minute drive. Not good for further or out of state.
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Booth Cost: $73
Total Sales: $150
Transaction Fees: $3.91
Taxes: $11.27
Total Profit: $61.82