Birmingham Mela 2015 Outcome

The Birmingham Mela 2015 was quite an experience. I ate, sold, listened to music, danced and overall met some amazing people.
Prep – Friday 24th July.

I spent my Friday prepping for the Mela. All boring stuff really like making labels, stock count, organising and packing everything up in bags, boxes and suitcases. I’d made lists upon lists to ensure I didn’t forget anything and guess what? I didn’t 🙂

Day 1 – Saturday 25th July.
It was a super early start. My little bro had come to help out so we got up early, got ready and packed up to leave around 8ish. We got to the event at 9ish and found our stall which was the first one right near the main stage! How cool – best view! It took us around 2 and a half hours to get everything set up and ready and there was a slow trickle of people coming and going seeing what was going on. It did rain a little first thing but luckily the weather brightened up shortly after and it turned out to be a gorgeous day.

There was plenty to see and do. The funfair, lots of food stalls, dance performances, more food, singers, live painting and of course lots of shopping to be done! Sales were slow to start with and then a sudden rush towards the end of the day. It was good to be out and about meeting people, talking to them and getting amazing feedback about my products. People really made an effort with outfits and coming out with the family for an enjoyable day. I mostly sold Rakhi cards and tote bags as well as my popular food cards – especially the newer ones – they went down a treat. By the end of the day, my brother and I were totally shattered and were ready for bed!

Day 2 – 26th July.
Raining, wet and miserable. That was the weather all day long though it didn’t stop people venturing out to the mela to see the performances and generally what was going on. We made a few sales during the morning then things died down a bit. I think as the rain got heavier people with children left as we don’t want them getting poorly do we! We did pack up early around 5ish as we wanted to get back and sort out what stock we had left.  We had lots of enquiries about t-shirts too so they will be back in stock as of next week. So, if you’re one of the people that asked about them, I’ll be getting back to you this weekend.

Overall…
Overall, I’d say the Birmingham Mela was a good experience, I wish the weather was better but we are in England so you never know what to expect really. I met some amazing people and it was good to get my brand out there too. The highlight of my weekend was meeting Mr Ink himself – Inkquisitive Illustration – Amandeep. He is such an amazing artist and a really humble guy and it was amazing meeting him and squishing him when I hugged him as I’m a big fan of his amazing work, and yes selfies did take place -and yes, he did his signature pout. Until next year…