One of the best contemporary craft shows in the country is back in Tulsa this weekend.
“You come to an event like this and not only do you have a great volume of sales, but you get to hear people have that ah-ha moment with your products,” Ashton Kelly Candles Co-owner Janna Hallman said.
It's not overwhelming just yet.
Supplies are being rolled in, racks are being set up, but by tomorrow morning, the whole River Spirit Expo will be filled with customers ready to shop for thousands of products.
Hallman owns Ashton Kelly Candles with her husband - a business she bought after becoming a regular of theirs at events just like An Affair of the Heart.
Hallman said the event is great for customers and can be a huge confidence boost for vendors.
“Regardless of how you start off, everyone has that moment when you think, ‘oh my gosh, I’m never going to sell a single product,’" Hallman said.
Over half the products being sold this weekend are hand-made, and for a small business looking to gain some exposure, that business can make all the difference in the world.
“It has helped us exponentially, and I also get an opportunity to listen to what my customers are requesting, to what they want, to what they're asking for,” Hallman said.
And it can even become a launching pad - for turning a passion into a living.
“We've had people who have started very small, and they now do that business full-time,” An Affair of the Heart co-owner Anita Hinkle said. “They started maybe as a little hobby or friends getting together, and now it's their full-time job.”
The event goes all weekend – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
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