sell out

that's right, the SHFS sold all 70 of its tables this year! That's kinda cool and I'll tell ya why, it's because last year we didn't sell them all. Didn't get close.

Last year we increased the number of tables in the room from 50 to 70, and the price per table had increased as well due to the facility increasing the price THEY were charging us for tables and setup. Previously the event had not been paying for itself, which is bad news.

Also last year I don't think we advertised the event as well as we could have, and I believe the window for registration was shorter.

at any rate after selling tables online, and selling to last-minute walk-ins on Thursday, we had about 15 vacant tables. I didn't mind, really. We had a few sellers who bought those unsold tables so they could expand (we also had a few campers who came in and set up on those tables without checking in or paying or anything. And that's not so good).

I had one guy during last year's SHFS come up to me. He mentioned the empty tables and seemed like it was some kind of reflection on the SHFS, like the event wasn't doing so well, like it was something I needed to worry about. He seemed really overly concerned about a thing he had no connection to. It was weird. I was like, dude, it's a yard sale. Relax. Plenty of buying and selling going on.

Of course, I'd rather have that guy than the woman in 2014 who was righteously pissed off that we weren't providing wi-fi, or a certain "guest" who had been promised a table and didn't we know who she was, she's a very important guest, where is her table.

Of course, I don't like seeing empty tables in this kind of event. Even if I felt that stranger had been weirdly over-concerned, empty tables aren't conducive to the fun, busy atmosphere I like to see at the SHFS. I had plans this year to fill the empty tables with promotional material, free flyers, posters, displays, etc. However, it turns out I won't have to worry about it! Now all I gotta worry about is Tiny Hat guy.