Pet Fest in Pictures (and a giveaway!)

We had a great time at the Humane Society of Jackson County's Pet Fest this past Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the crowds and other vendors were friendly, and we enjoyed great food, music and pet-friendly activities. The event was called Pet Fest, but I think it would have been more appropriate to have called it Dog Fest - I don't think I've ever seen more dogs in one place before. Sure, there were a few kittens at the adoption site, but other than that, it was dogs everywhere! Dogs of all breeds, colors and sizes. Brady & Cooper love socializing with other dogs & I think they had a blast. They slept for hours after we got home.

The weather was beautiful, but it was hot out in the sun - luckily, we came prepared with our tent. We set up the Brown Dog Boutique booth in the tent, and it's amazing what a difference that made. It was SO much cooler sitting under the tent. Throughout the day Brady & Cooper alternated between sitting in front of the tent greeting everyone that walked by and relaxing under the tables - popping out every now & then to say hi.

I've found that craft shows are difficult to prepare for, especially ones that I've never been to before. It's hard to anticipate (1) what people will be interested in on a given day, (2) what price points people will be looking for and (3) whether people will be in the mood to spend money at all. In the case of Pet Fest, it seems that most people loved to come around and look, but I got the impression that no one came to the event planning to make many purchases. Unfortunately, I don't think that many of the vendors sold much, if anything. The good news was that booth prices were very reasonable, and all of the money generated at the event went directly to the Humane Society of Jackson County.

I only sold one set of note cards (to my good friend over at Vintage Victuals - thanks Ellie!), but didn't leave the event disappointed. I was glad to support the HSJC, and I did end up handing out a number of business cards which will hopefully lead to new readers of this blog & more visitors to my shop. Fortunately, I didn't prepare too much inventory for the event. Because the majority of my sales are custom designs (where customers select the dog silhouette, colors and personalization of their choice), it's difficult to create a reasonable inventory that includes all of the combinations that I offer. I did introduce a new product at the event that got a good response from the crowd - a Pet Sitter's Guide. I developed the Pet Sitter's Guide out of personal necessity - I found that whenever my husband and I went out of town, I had to re-write a list of instructions for the person watching the boys - what they eat, when they eat, the vet's contact info, special instructions, etc. Every time I wrote down new instructions, I worried that I was forgetting something important. Hence, The Pet Sitter's Guide - a colorful, fill-in instruction sheet that features a cute dog silhouette at the top. I will be adding The Pet Sitter's Guide to my shop soon. In the meantime, I have 3 (yes, 3!) sets to give away to my readers! In honor of one of my alma matters, the University of Georgia, the sets that I will be giving away feature a white bulldog silhouette surrounded by a red & black circle. To enter the giveaway, just answer the following question in the comments section of this post:

What is your favorite summer vacation spot and why?

The rules:

One entry per person - no entries after 5pm EST on Monday, June 8. The winners will be chosen at random and announced next Tuesday morning. Good luck!