Grumpy me having trouble with henna politics at Renn Fair- help?


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Posted by Lauren on October 1, 2001 at 21:08:02:

Without going into a great long rant (tempting though it is), I need
some help resolving a problem at a local Renn Faire.
I thought I had been registered to do henna at the Fair, which is one
hour away form my house, in exchange for dance performance.
Apparently, I was not offically registered, and another merchant,
this one from six hours away, got the exclusive right to do henna at
that fair. Okay, my fault for not getting things in writing. Lesson
learned.
My main goal at this Fair, which is local to me, is networking,
meeting other local artists, and getting my name out to the locals.
I don't care if I actually DO henna there, although that would be
nice.
I got in touch with the lady running the other henna booth and found
that since henna is a sideline designed to get people in her booth to
buy her other stuff, she'd be willing to let me do henna all day
Saturday and to spell her when she needs a break on Sundays, with a
very reasonable share of my profits.
When i got there, I found that she would let me do henna only if I
put her design book out and open while I was doing mine, and if
anyone wanted hers, she'd do it. I was not allowed to do anything on
Sundays at all, since she had an extra person in the store that day
and could concentrate on henna. Since I was feeling kind of sick, I
asked if it would be okay for me to work out of my own booth so my
husband could take care of me a bit, but still pay her her cut. She
said no, since I was across from the gate, and people would see me
first and not come to her. In fairness, I must say that since she
was official and I was there only by her sufferance, annoying though
it was, I understand that it was her right to say and do all this.
Here's my issue- She has one sign saying "mehndi" in gothic letters,
which is not readable from more than 10 feet away, and I was actively
looking for her. It took me two rounds of the fair to locate her
booth. Her "designs" are stencils, which she charges $3 to $20 for.
I had quite a few people stop by with a gleam in their eye, happy to
have found someone to decorate them, then they see the stencils,
their faces fall, they sigh and walk away. Some of them looked
reproachfully at me. Honestly, I would have done the same thing. I
wanted to shout "No, it's not me doing the overpriced cheesy
stencils! I do real henna art!" but I swallowed it. I did make some
very important contacts and got leads on a couple classes and other
area artists who may want to buy henna from me in the future. Even
though I did very little henna that day (it was very cold), I felt it
very worthwhile for the contacts I made.
Sunday, I put up my usual sign at my shop with cards affixed to it
saying "Local henna artist here Saturdays only", "For henna designs
Today, ask at (other shop's name)", and "Take a Business Card, Sign
the Petition, and please Ask Questions". I went over to the other
shop before putting up the sign and told one of the workers who I
sorta knew (the owner was out) that I was simply networking today and
NOT doing henna and would send anyone who wanted it to their shop. I
figured this was like giving them a free sign in a more visible
location. A few hours later, the Fair manager asked us to take our
sign down, as it was making the other booth owner angry. I don't get
it. If I'm not doing henna, and am actively sending anyone who wants
it to her, how does this hurt her? All I want is to get my name out
locally.
Can anyone think of a way to get around this? I don't think I'll
bother doing henna if it's as cold this Saturday, so I'm not worried
about that aspect, but while I don't want to make enemies, I do want
to get my name out to the locals.

 


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