Our guilt guild hosts a show, just last weekend as a matter of fact, and we have only had a few vendors. Some not even quilt related. A flameless candle line, an antique shop, our local quilt shop with precious few items (she is one of the people that works tirelessly on our show, so she brings what she can) and a lady that makes purses. Hmmmm, didn't go FOR the vendors, but it was nice to see some things I might not get to see if they didn't participate. We had a bazaar table and a silent auction table (3 featherweights donated raised some serious cash for charity) and an "opportunity" quilt (we can't call it a raffle) available. The show was open Friday noon to Sunday early evening. We had a paid judge, gave out cash awards and lots of ribbons. It was a good show. Not big, not stressful, no huge crowds, but we made some money for charity, we showed quilts from all over (last year was Civil War, year before WWII) and nobody was grumbling.
I went to a show last year in a neighboring town, 4 of us drove in. We were soooo disappointed. No vendors (told because it was held in a church, they weren't allowed to sell anything), no ribbons (no judged quilts, just best of show voted on by public and not awarded during the show) The quilts were draped over 4 chairs on top of tables and hung from the 2nd story so high we couldn't read the signs or see the details of the lovely quilts. I won't go back...but not because of the lack of vendors! Could have been vendors lined up out the door and it was still a crummy show!