My Guide to Outdoor Markets

My living is still primarily earned via outdoor markets. Here’s a little overview of one kind of market I do a lot. I’ve done them for six years as of writing this so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned. As you might expect, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing. Everyone has some custom or quirky thing about their setups. So, as with everything else on this site, your mileage may vary. Take what you can use, leave what you can’t.

Main Equipment

There are a few essentials, things I feel are must-have’s for outdoor markets. What you choose, how many and how big they are is all of function of the vehicle you use to move it from market to market.

Tent (and weights)

Probably the most obvious thing on the list. You need a good tent. Good as in sturdy, well-constructed, and as close to waterproof as you can get. If you’re doing several events a week, as I do in the summer/fall/holidays, you want something fairly easy to setup. I use a “pop-up” style tent. It’s one that can be set up by one person with much trouble at all.

Mine also has walls that clip onto a wire and zip up in the middle rather than at the corners. This makes deploying them so much easier than other tents of had in the past where I had to futz with Velcro and outdoor corner zippers. It really sucks to zip up your tent from the outside when it’s pouring rain and with mine I don’t have to. Also, make sure it has a white top. You’re not standing out with a blue top and some events won’t let you in if it’s not white. Use your banners and displays to differentiate your tent.

A trustworthy popup tent is priced between $250 and $350. They typically come with walls, some kind of weights or fillable weight bags (the better option of the two), a carrying back, and possibly some parts for onsite repairs. I say the fillable bags are preferred because the weights included are often just 5-10lb plates…they’re just junk. The bags you can fill up with with something dense like sand or even concrete. Better still is to build your own heavier ones.

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Pricey Tents

I know artists who purchase tent, wall, weight kits that cost thousands. They’re nice tents, usually make of actually waterproof material, and designed to hold big framed pieces of art and stuff like that. For me, that’s overkill, and not practical. It is an option, however.

Super-Cheap Tents

The really cheap, flimsy, colorful tents you can pick up and sporting goods shops are tempting because they’re $60. They’re also crap that will often buckle against a stiff breeze. Sure you may get lucky and find a decent one, but chances are it’ll last you about 40 times of setup and break down before something important breaks. That’s not even two months worth when I’m at my busiest.

I’m not sure how to put it delicately, but 5-15lb plate weights aren’t enough. If fact, they can often become airborne objects of destruct during stiff winds. A pop-up tent is basically a giant kite with steel legs. They’re very dangerous when the wind catches them. They and injure people and do some serious damage to vehicles and buildings as well. Use heavy weights. I have at least 35lbs on each corner plus each corner is staked with 10inch long 60D (2 gauge) nails driven in at an angle, not straight down.

Tables

I use 6ft folding tables. They fit well in my previous vehicle, which was the primary driving force behind my entire setup before 2021. They’re compact, they’re not too heavy which makes setup and breakdown easier. You can find them for $30-$50 in just about every big box store or “buy club” there is. They’re also a standard size for the stretchy table clothes I use. They’re great because they don’t flap around in the wind. I had fitted table clothes before and then still flapped around a bit. Bed risers allow me to raise the tables up a bit and stagger their heights. Variation in height adds visual appeal, but those risers can also level things out if you’re setup on an incline or hilly area.

Displays

Since my previous vehicle was a bit smaller (PT Cruiser), all of my displays pack flat. Whether they disassemble into a flat stack of wood or just cleverly fold up, they take up very little space. When you’re open and in use, however, they hold a lot of product. I chose wood or bamboo displays because they’re easier to repair, repaint, and recycle if they get damaged beyond repair.

Odds and Ends

A smaller bin holds my retail bags, signs, scissors, tape, bull clips, small bungy cords, Stabatha the Lucky Stegosaurus™, clamps, table runners, business cards (very few of these, I don’t usually hand them out), tent flag, stickers, and weights for table signs. All event paperwork is printed and sit on the passenger seat with me, including furnished vendor ids or parking permits.

I also have a milk crate that I use to tote around some flatpack shelving that goes on my tables. It also hold my table clothes, hammer, and the bag of stakes and tiedown straps that fasten my weights to my tent.

Finally, I have a bag that carries other things that I need, but that I don’t trust in a tote or crate. My square reader for processing card transactions, my mobile phone, ibuprofen, first aid kit, water bottle, coffee cup, Leatherman multitool, and meal or snack. I also keep a pencil or pen with a notebook for jotting down stuff to hand to customers. Any notes I need to take and review later are done on my phone with Microsoft OneNote. I use OneNote to keep track of most of my business empire. It’s the ultimate entrepreneurial TrapperKeeper (am I dating myself here?).

On market days, I usually don’t eat breakfast until midmorning so I bring it along. On full events, which can for 9 – 12 hours, I’ll bring something, but also usually end up buying a meal at a food truck or local restaurant near the event. Many times, if there aren’t food trucks, the local spots will actually have extra staff on to bring your food to your booth, which is a thoughtful and awesome thing for them to do! I also carry a sketchbook and pencil case with a variety of drawing stuff in it. I’m kind of known for sketching at markets. My regular customers and many vendors enjoy seeing what I’ve done for the day. I share them on my Facebook and Instagram feeds, too.