PHAIR

I like that Philly has events like this throughout the summer but most stands are cash only so remember we to bring that with you!
Also, although the things being sold there were cute, it wasn’t really my style. Very crafty. I got there an hour or so before they shut down so I was only able to browse through the vendors that were still open (4 were still there).

So I after seeing some flyers and ads on craigslist I finally decided to go down and check the open air art market out. I dont live in philly and had a hard time finding it. Basically it is in a parking lot. First of all the vendors, jewelry, prints, fiber, photography were excellent quality. All of them interesting and pleasant to talk to and it wasnt crowed with other people. Two food trucks, I tried mini trini, and the food was great. I love, love the idea and encourage more people to attend. I purchased a few photographs, incense, and some jewelry. It is reasonably priced for the artist/​vendors, simply and lots of parking. This continues every saturday through nov, so weather wise this is the perfect time. I will be going back again.

We were there on the 4^th of July weekend, and apparently there was some kind of food festival at Penn’s Landing at the same time. We were there to scout it out and decide whether to come back later and set up as a vendor, but since we’d be driving in from central Delaware, our standards were pretty high.
It was a little sad looking as we parked and walked over, much smaller than we’d expected. If we hadn’t driven so far to get there, we might not have even bothered to get out of the car, because it was HOT. Once we got up closer and really started looking at what was out there, though, it got better. Well, not immediately. The first two booths we saw on the way in looked like mostly cheap imported buy/​sell stuff. Flea market stuff. We didn’t even slow down for those, and it got better after that. We were there for less than an hour, shortly after they opened for the day.
The stuff that stood out positively included a guy selling silver stuff, all handmade, and some quite original. He also had the usual assortment of spoon rings, etc… but he also had some really neat stuff done in ways I hadn’t seen before, including bud vases and mobiles. There was an apothecary, who grew and processed her own herbs and sold various soaps and lotions, etc… There was a woman selling nut butters, and also had Arnold Palmers made with either black tea or green tea. It was from jugs of grocery store tea, but in light of the super hot weather and relentless sun, it was a welcome reprieve. There was a woman selling beautiful collage assemblages, probably the only thing out of the whole group that I would have considered to be «fine art». And there was another woman selling a nice selection of vintage clothing and accessories, and also original handmade jewelry. The vendors I spoke to about their experiences as vendors were universally positive and some were regulars.
The negatives include a complete lack of natural shade or grass or plants or really anything but concrete and asphalt. Yeah, that’s the city for ya, but on a day like the one we were there, it was nearly unbearable, even under the shade of the individual vendor tents. And if the food trucks had been there, I guess there would have been no shade to enjoy their products. No, there were no food trucks there the day we were there, although they were expecting some later in the day. If not for the Arnold Palmers one of the other vendors was making herself (bet there are codes against that), there would have been nothing to drink at all in that crazy heat. I bet she made a killing off of those. The buy/​sell tents on the way in were a real turnoff for me. I’d read through their website, and what I saw there made me want to drive the 90+ minutes each way to check it out and possibly be a part of it, but some of what I saw when I showed up was definitely not what they were plugging on the website. And some of what I saw on the website was definitely not what I saw when I showed up.
I didn’t think to grab a card from the silver guy, but I knew one of the big things they emphasize in the vendor materials is that they provide individual publicity type exposure for vendors on their website, so I was thinking I’d just look him up later if I still wanted the mobile that caught my eye later. I did eventually find the info, but the way the site is set up wasn’t really conducive to finding it even though I knew exactly what I was looking for.
TL;DR: Great potential, not really living up to it yet. May have just hit an «off» weekend since it was a holiday weekend with a competing event across town. Will probably come check it out again later in the season.

I’ve been twice to Phair. The first time was good, but the weather was iffy, so we couldn’t stay that long. The second time was great! A nice mix of booths and friendly vendors. We had a lot of fun just looking around and talking to some artists. I like that it’s like a hidden gem and no one is overly pushy and it’s not so crowded you can’t get browse or talk to the artists/​vendors. That was my one ish with some of the other fests that I’ve been to.
It was a great way to spend a few hours on the weekend, plus there are some pretty decent food truck choices which is always bonus. I think they may change up the food trucks a lot because they were different both times I went. Definitely going again.

I’ve been meaning to check this out since I heard about it a few weeks ago and because, if you haven’t noticed, I love shit like this. I finally got out today and was seriously underwhelmed. There were *maybe* 5 booths up and 1 food truck. For how heavily advertised it was I was expecting A LOT more. It’s also a bit hard to find because it’s basically in a random parking lot, however there are signs and balloons that lead the way. Things did not look good as we walked up.
HOWEVER, as I told my friend as we were approaching and she was expressing regret and disappointment, «don’t judge a market by it’s dinkiness.» We ended up getting some awesome Philly pictures that were reasonably priced. All the merchants were really nice and actually wanted to talk to you, but weren’t pressuring like vendors can sometimes be. There was a guy that makes cool stuff out of forks and spoons, and some really great Nicaraguan pots. As for the food truck, it was «Say Cheese» a grilled cheese truck, so we couldn’t resist and got the truffled mac and cheese (amazing) and the buffalo bleu sandwich (equally awesome).
The one vendor said that this event had a lot more vendors and trucks the first week and has been slowly dwindling (maybe because of the weather, some streets closed, or other festivals and things going on). I hope that’s the case, and maybe I’ll check it out again if I’m in the area, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to come back.