L5P Halloween Fest ’24 Review

It was a spooky scary time at Little Five Points for Halloween Fest 2024! With live music, wrestling, the famous parade, and more, there was lots to see this sunny weekend along with the Artist Market on Euclid Avenue. This was my first time ever at L5P Halloween and I learned a lot during the monster mash!

While the Little Five Points Business Association are the main organizers behind Halloween Fest, the Artist Market is run by a separate group known as GVG Events. According to their website, GVG Events has been hosting pop-up markets around Atlanta since 2015. I’d heard from a fellow vendor that GVG Events had taken over running the Halloween Fest Artist Market in more recent years. Either way, this would be my first time as a vendor for both hosts.

I had heard good things about the L5P Halloween Fest over the years, unsurprising as its one of the largest Halloween celebrations in the US southeast. My friend, Amanda, vouched for it as one of her best outdoor shows so I put it on my list markets to look out for. Applications opened online through Eventeny in June and I got my acceptance message in August. I was a little nervous booking two two-day events back to back, Atlanta Pride and L5P Halloween Fest, but… obviously, I followed through! Jury’s still out on if back-to-back shows is a stunt worth repeating. GVG followed through and emailed vendors with information on load-in, load-out, booth setup rules, etc. They even sent reminder emails as we got closer to the event.

Halloween Festival and Parade event map from L5P’s social media and website.

Saturday started bright and early as I arrived on Euclid Avenue for load-in and setup… about thirty minutes early. I had trouble sleeping and figured, well their email recommended coming early, load-in was scheduled for 8-11 AM, but not THAT early it would seem. The street was clearly still open for regular traffic so I just parked and waited for the sun to rise. Eventually, a short line of cars formed behind me and GVG staff appeared wearing neon safety vests.

I must say, I was very impressed overall with their load-in and load-out operation. All the expected steps were detailed out in an email a month out from the event. You’d first be greeted by a staff member at the front of Euclid Avenue who would provide you with your booth number and direct you to whereabouts your spot would be. Additional staff members were stationed along the street to guide you to your exact spot, which were clearly marked, and they’d even help with unloading or tent setup. Then for load-out, they returned to direct traffic and help clear pedestrians from the paths of vendor vehicles. It was important that Euclid Avenue flowed as a one-way for load-in and load-out, and I think great care was taken to ensure our safety. However, it was a little awkward that festival goers were still roaming the middle of the street as vendors were loading out, but I guess that’s why we have megaphones to let them know cars are oncoming!

Free parking was available in the nearby residential streets, but I didn’t want to risk it and went for the suggested on-site paid parking for vendors. Luckily!! The parking was only $11 a day, unclear if this is the norm because emails earlier said to expect $20-30. I came so early to make sure I could find parking, part of my post-Atlanta Pride anxiety I guess, but this didn’t seem to be a problem. Because Euclid Avenue was closed off for the Artist Market anyway, that meant only vendors would’ve had access to it for the weekend. And I’d spoken to plenty of vendors that weekend who preferred searching for their own free parking. So, I’m unclear on if fighting for the on-site parking amongst vendors was an issue but perhaps it could vary year to year.

The wrestling ring at Euclid Yard.

My spot was near the end of the Artist Market, right across from Euclid Yard where there were food trucks, live musicians, and live wrestling. It was a bummer that I was located right across from the wrestling action, but too short to see any of it! Most of the nearby vendors were also selling for the first time at Halloween Fest, so I wonder if seniority may have played a part in booth spots? We were the closest to the Community Center though, which meant easier access to Halloweenville and indoor restrooms.

Saturday was a bit rough because not only had I slept four hours the night before, but just after I finished setting up my booth I realized I had forgotten my battery pack. Meaning I had to conserve all my phone’s precious power for card purchases and not social media or mobile game distractions. Even making a laminated checklist didn’t stop me from forgetting something! Without my usual digital stimming resources… this meant I got very sleepy throughout the day. If you saw me taking a micro nap on Saturday, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be rude! Saturday’s sales were also fairly slow, without any particular time standing out as busy. A slower sales day was a little expected as Sunday was touted to be the big day from L5P staff and veteran vendors alike. A neighboring vendor guessed that perhaps Saturday’s crowd was mostly comprised of nearby residents. We also both agreed that we had less sales than we’d hoped and observed not many people carrying around shopping bags, which implied this may have been the norm for other vendors as well. Saturday’s just a practice run for Sunday is all!

Once 6 PM hit, the Artist Market was set to close down! Since Euclid Avenue opens to the public at night, vendors were required to tear down their tents and pack up. Since I was a little surprised at how many pedestrians would still be around, I did end up creating a more efficient way of loading my car out of panic! Sometimes creativity springs from limitations, of time in this case.

Moments before disaster. (Lacquer Snake gets lost and then returned!!!)

As by Sunday I had a better understand on how the Artist Market would flow, I took the time after setting up to explore more of the vendors. It was also an opportunity to take some photos of Black Lacquer Snake for my Kickstarter promotion, and I also got to network with some very talented folks! I slowed down to really get a look at all the booths and I think something clicked for me. It seems obvious now, but I noticed a lot of customizations and layout choices that really made a vendor’s tent feel like their space, you know? A tent is not only a place to show your product it is an environment you can craft into your brand, and perhaps it could be as simple as some easy-to-transport decor. It may be difficult to quantify how much retail design affects sales, but I realized it’s not to be ignored, especially in an outdoor environment where infinite stimuli vie for our attention.

And maybe I should use my clothing rack as a clothing rack and not as a display rack. Even though I’ve seen clothing racks in stores all my life, it took looking at vintage tents for me to think… huh, okay, filling out the whole rack does serve a purpose. Also, I had a customer ask me if I was sold out of clothes because she only saw three shirts hanging on mine.

Regardless of my near naked rack, sales did pick up on Sunday almost by double! Even by 11 AM it was easy to see there were more people around and I had a few big purchases that morning. The parade was scheduled to start around 2 PM so there was a natural drop then with sales being busiest after 3 PM when the parade let out. My sales still didn’t perform as high as I would’ve hoped for the large crowd, emails from GVG estimated about 50,000 in attendance over the weekend, but I’ll admit perhaps Atlanta Pride’s sales had given me a big head. And as I had mentioned earlier I think my tent had a long way to go. The competition was fierce! I’m still satisfied with how my sales performed all things considered and did make back the booth fee. Plus, I did get to meet a lot of other cool artists and crafters!

Adding to Little Five Point’s appeal is its ever evolving art scene.

Billie’s Vendor Rating

Spooky⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Foot Traffic⭐⭐⭐⭐
Attendee Vibes⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Restrooms⭐⭐⭐
Pokémon GO⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fashion⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really did enjoy the atmosphere of Little Five Points and think my art does fit in with the Halloween theme. Even if my products have a cute style, what I love to make precious are monsters and scaly critters! Perhaps, if I do consider L5P Halloween Fest in the future, I could make an effort to have more goth, alternative, punk, badass vibes? But what if standing out with my visual language is also a strength? And I did see other vendors with cute things as well, hm… It’s a tricky needle to thread.

I would like to vend at L5P Halloween Fest again, but I think I’ll have to step up my game for it to be a real success! I want to be worthy of the art scene!

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