April 15-16, 2009.  Hayward, CA   Kennedy Park on Hesperian Blvd.

MY PREVIEW:  We have been selling our merchandise here for at least 10 years now and have observed a steady decline during the past 3-4 years.  Sales have gone down while attendance has plummeted also.  A number of vendors came up MIA last year.  The entertainment seems to have invited a poor-beer drinking crowd lately and they tend to sit around and listen to the sounds all afternoon.    Last year, I found myself couped up in my tight 10x12 space while many others in back of us managed to be provided with spaces that were wide open on the sides.

I really can't still believe that they don't end the entertainment until 7:00 on Sunday evening, thus providing the vendors with little time to get in and load up before darkness sets in within the unlit park.  This is a nice festival to attend as it has sommething for everybody, including the low-life shoplifters that frequent the event.  Looking forward to having some of that delicious Zucchini bread.  Please read my review from last year's festival.

THE SET UP.   Looked at my space and it was only 8 feet wide.  Looked at my space again and it was still only 8 feet wide.  Pinched myself and then measured my space again....still only 8 feet and this was no dream.  Fortunately nobody else in my row (6 spaces) had arrived.  I got the guy in charge and told him the situation and he said he didn't believe it  He took a look at it and re-chalked them.  However, there was still going to be a problem because the two booths on one side of me have perhaps 16 feet to squeeze into.

Guy in the middle arrived and looked around.  Not happy.  Must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.  He says that he's selling hats also and doesn't like his space.  I told him that the spaces are only 10 feet wide.  Not any happier.  He went to find the guy in charge and I never saw him again.  Gone.  Where?  I don't care.  Gone.

One problem taken care of.  The guy two spaces down arrives and we tell him that there is not enough space for two booths because they screwed up.  When he sets up, there's only going to be 5-6 feet between our booths, so the middle guy gets the squeeze (in case they ever thought about putting another guy there).  Happy.  I tell him he's going to have  an extra side open.  He's more happy.  I close up my canopy, leaving a lot of work to do for tomorrow.  But I'm happy.  Wife is happy.  Originally had an 8-foot space made into a cramped up tight ass 10 foot space and now we have 4-5 feet extra on one side.  Customers will be happy.  Good night.  See ya in the morning.

In past year's spaces have been 12x12.  I spoke to them today and said that they are 10x10.  I checked their submission to Craftmaster News and it says 12x12.  Who's right?  Who's wrong?  WTF.  Maybe I am entitled to a 20+ percent discount.  So glad we can open up an extra side, because I would be totally P.Oed.  Know what I mean.

Here's a copy of their entertainment schedule. That going to bring in low-life's or what?  Notice where it shows the entertainment going until 7:30pm.  That's not right.  If you have ever done the Zucchini before, how do you like tearing down and loading up in the dark.  There's no lights in the vendor areas.  Come on people.  Give us a break.

Saturday, August 15. 

We arrived there around 6:30 and unloaded more things from our van.  Removed the covers from the canopy and continued setting up. which took us up to around 10:00am. 

A VERY SLOW DAY it turned out from start to finish.  Crowds looked like they were down by 1/3 to 1/2.  We have more vendors this year and that might be attributed to vendors deciding not to pay the ridiculous fees $450/$650 for the Art and Soul Festival in Oakland.  Don't know for sure, but we do have maybe 30 more booths than last year.

I noticed maybe 4-5 new food vendors this year, along with the regular one's who have been doing the show for years.  I did get some garlic fries for $5.00 and they were okay.  Not great, but okay.  I stayed the hell away from the Greek Food booth that sold Philly Cheesesteaks.  Not touching those.  Last year I bought one and it was raunchy.  Meat all dried up and looking gross.  I am really careful about that because I had food poisoning in Antioch, November 2007.

WEATHER WAS GREAT with very little wind throughout the day.  Very nice.

STRUGGLED THROUGHOUT THE DAY with very slow sales.  Picked up a little between 3-5pm, but not very much.  My worst day ever here at the Zucchini.  People just not buying and I didn't see very many bags being carried around.  Just a small select few vendors doing any good.  Watch how many come back next year.

THE MUSIC WAS INCREDIBLY BAD.  I mean it was terrible and unfortunately, we had to listen to it because we were within ear shot of the stage.  Says a lot about Hayward, I guess.  Certainly nobody I would pay to go see.

RIFF-RAFF REPORT.  We did have some thieves strolling the grounds looking for the right opportunity.  Watch your stuff. people.  If I catch ANYBODY stealing from me, THEY WILL BE GOING DOWNTOWN.

I CLOSED UP AT 7:00. There was a number of people walking around, but I don't think I missed anything.  The music was scheduled to go on until 7:30pm and I suppose that's the time the show ends.  As far as I was concerned, the show ended long before that.

MY MICHAEL JACKSON T-SHIRTS SAVE ME.  They accounted for over 1/3 of my sales,

THERE WAS A THEORY that the reason the attendance was down here was that the people were heading to Oakland for the Art and Soul.  Wrong demographics.  80 percent of attendees there are  black.  Didn't come from Hayward.

Sunday, August 16.

Arrived around 9:20 and prepared our booth for sales.  Weather was great once again and very little wind.  Of course, the crowd was late in arriving as such is the case with any event on a Sunday.

Sales were extremely slow until around 2:00 and I had a good 5 minutes of sales which accounted for more than one-third of the day's total.  Reminded me of the good ol' days when we would get sales one right after another.  Now....oh my gosh.  Virtually every show has been down as people just are not buying.  I think that quite a number of vendors did not make the fee, so you pretty much know they won't be back.

MOONWALK MARVIN.  I had some of my Michael Jackson shirts hanging in front.  A guy comes over and grabs one of my hats, glances down at the shirts and then places it upon his head.  Suddenly, he begins to gyrate and skipping backwards with his version of MJ's moonwalk.  Funny,  Hilarious, Priceless.  You just don't know what you are going to see next.

FOOD.  I began heading over to the food area around 1:30.  I glanced over to my left, down Hesperian Blvd. in the direction of Sam's Burger's and gave some though to walking over there for a couple burgers.  They are delicious and are the best in the western part of Hayward.  I then looked down in the other direction and thought about heading over to Togo's.  As I walked past the exit. I almost left and headed over there, but I didn't want to leave my wife alone in the booth for an extended period of time, due to the riff-raff factor.  So, I walked over and picked up a couple Italian Sausages with peppers and onions on them and you know, they were pretty good and that took care of us for the remainder of the day.  Didn't buy anything else.  Got to cut expenses.  Would have like to have gotten a steak for dinner tonight but at least we are not going to end up with  'cup-o-noodles again.

I took several walks around the park as I was looking for a new location for next year.  We'll be here.  Gonna grind out another one.  For the past 5 years I have been located in a space along the sidewalk near the swings.  Sometimes we get decent traffic flow, but this year we did not.  People seemed to gather in a well-shaded area amongst a number of other booths.  I was trying to determine if these vendors were getting better sales then me as a result of their location.  I'm not so sure.  I walked up and down the rows and did see a large number of vendors just sitting in their booths with no customers around.  There were certain booths that did attract clusters of people, but I didn't see a large number of them carrying bags.  Nosy?  I notice that booths that sell rings and have them openly displayed in cases on their tables do attract a crowd.  But then quite often you will have people in that group that take advantage of the situation and swipe a ring or two.  Next time you are at a festival, watch some of these people closely and see if the hand is really quicker than the eye.  How the hell is a vendor going to watch 10 people trying on rings?  Watch carefully and see if you can find people working in pairs and are separated.  One will ask a question and as soon as the vendor is distracted enough, the other one will swipe one.

I WAS STANDING IN THE AISLE and watched a guy walk over quickly to somebody's booth and then walk back and tell his friends 'I can make that....it's easy.'  I wanted to say something, but I refrained.  Yah sure....go ahead and make it.  I always hear a lot of people say that, but you know very well that they will never actually make it.

My wife began taking down our things around 5:00 and packing the slow sellers.  For this show, every $(#*$# ing thing was a slow seller...  For me, my neighbors, everybody.  The show was very bad for just about everybody.  It wasn't long before she had a good number of buckets filled.  I began taking down my side of our display around 6:00 and when 7:00 came around, I walked out and drove our van into a parking area in the park.  I knew that the entertainment ended at 7:30 and they were not going to let anybody in until then.  I decided to enter from a different area because there always was a long line of cars, vans and trucks at the main gate.  I had virtually a clear shot to my booth with no obstructions. 

I LEFT MY VAN THERE and walked back to my canopy and continued tearing down.  I really had my mind set on getting out of there before it gets dark.   Every year that I have done the show, I have had to load up in the dark.  This would be unnecessary if they would end the music earlier than 7:30.  Very dangerous loading up and maneuvering your vehicle in the dark there since they have no lights.

I entered at 7:30 and drove to my booth and took half an hour to load up and depart.  Normally, when things are this bad at an event, we do not return the following year.  Lots of new vendors next year, for sure.  However, we reside in Hayward and we will be back.  Not too many other wise choices for shows on this particular week.

Please continue to read my reviews, as we shall be doing a one-day show in Salida, north of Modesto on Saturday.