Overview

Robot Dragon Studios blog covering a second experience vending at CoHi Con in Columbia Heights, MN, this time on March 14, 2026. I reflect on the changes made from the last time. This includes booth setup, pricing strategies and customer interactions.

Applications, Payments & Planning

I didn't apply for the event myself, so I have no idea when the applications opened. I was invited to split a table with Wolf Dynasty Studios again when she got accepted on January 25, 2026. You can't really beat sharing a table. I didn't go in 2024, so figured I could give it another shot to see if attendance and sales would have improved within that time frame. I paid her the $25 and didn't do a whole lot else until it was closer to the event time.

Brittany had done a split table at Colossal Con North with Jess, so she showed me the table setup and asked me if I was good with something similar. I was and figured I'd make it work and only fit what needed to be on there up.

This event doesn't require vendor insurance but does require us to submit ST-19s. I filled mine out and sent it to Brittany so we could submit ours together.

I remember seeing the map somewhere, maybe it was in a message or on discord, but the layout was a little confusing for the back row. I did take a photo of the map at the event so I could post it here for reference.

Before the Event & Setup

The morning of, I was super behind because my daughter had robotics to go to at 8:30am and the event load-in started at 8am. I had expected to have the SUV we purchased at the start of March to have arrived to us by this point, but alas, we were once again sharing a vehicle. With the impending snow storm, it worked out anyways since I don't think I would have wanted to leave my vehicle outside when my husband is a pro northerner and can drive in the snow like it's nothing.



I think we arrived at the event a little after 9am and began loading in. I did take some pics walking up to the event. I am so glad that vendors did not have to stay until midnight. I crashed so hard after this event lol. I am just an old lady who likes to sleep.

I found out later (after the event ended) vendors needed to park behind the building, but we could load in up front. I think last time I sold here, we parked across the street. I am not sure I was even aware there was parking behind the building, but that makes more sense.




Our table was once again right up front so we didn't have to go too far. I do appreciate not being against the wall like we were the last time. There was much more space in the front and the back.



My husband helped me get all my grids, plush and hooks setup while I messed around with the table banner, getting 3 sticker trays setup/organized and put all the pins & hair claws up. I will say it was a little weird having the display in a way that it comes across where we have a sort of window. I didn't hate it though, so maybe I consider exploring this as a booth option in the future. I will say, I would want to build it high enough that I can stand up some if I do though. Maybe one more cube high or something.



Either way, Brittany is a genius for the setup plan! I actually am really shocked I basically fit into a 4 ft setup without too many issues. Maybe having the plush along the top is not such a terrible game plan. I may try this out in the future. Also my husband brought me a chicken biscuit to tide me over for the day. 

I did bring my price signs I created quickly for AMKE the night before and I remembered tape. I still need to work on those, but considering I either didn't have signs or made them every event by hand, this works for now.

The Event Itself

I was thrilled with the new layout. It made the whole event seem much busier as well since people would be walking into where the vendors were and not into a sort of wall like before. I will say, the aisle/row behind us was kinda awkward as there wasn't a super obvious path to get there and the way it was laid out was rough.

Winging It Studio said that while sales did happen, traffic flow was not the best. There were people that felt they were walking behind someone's booth. Hopefully this is something the event organizers take note of and fix in the future.

I only walked around the back row like maybe 2-3 times, but mostly on the end near me. There was a drink vendor at the end of the row that sort of scared me off being really pushy with drinks. I didn't have any money on me nor was I intent on purchasing anything. Mostly seeing what vendors were in attendance and what they were selling.

I forgot there was not a water fountain upstairs. Leads me to believe I didn't drink enough water in 2024. Either way, I only had two bottles of water while I was there (what I came with and a refill). Should have had more but I guess I am too lazy to make my way downstairs with any frequency to fill up my water.

Unrelated to anything else, I though the clouds were part of the display next to me until it was pointed out that they were not. I thought they were random and interesting at least. They didn't make or break anything about the con, just a nice little touch.



I feel like while attendance was low, it felt busier than it had the last time I had vended. Attendance was definitely up and stayed busy enough for most of the day so that it never felt super boring. It also helped to be hanging out with other cool vendors the whole day. It started to wind down around 4pm when snow started to fall. I went and asked the people at registration if it got bad, if the plan was to shut the event down early. One of the vendors had broken down and left by 5pm.



When we had some down time, we planned a stamp rally for Big Minneapolis Anime. Decided on a four seasons theme, so I am pretty hyped about that. We agreed on the theme being dragons. I tried to quickly sketch out some ideas I had with a pen I found in my box.  Nebula with a floaty ended up being a winner. 



At some point I also received a call telling me that they were going to try and deliver my car Sunday instead of Monday. The guy was not aware we were going to have a snow storm. I warned him and figured it absolutely would not show up Sunday (and it did not because the roads were so bad).

Towards the end of the event, the crochet booth to my right (from behind my booth) started chatting me up about corgis. She was telling me we had spoken on Facebook. It wasn't until I was heading home I realized exactly who she was since I talk to so many people all the time. Her daughter has a dog named Como with floppy ears lol. I actually went to college with her daughter at Anoka Ramsey Community College before I transferred to University of St Thomas. I haven't spoken with her in a long time, but it's a small world for sure. I wish I had realized it during the convention because it would have been great remember immediately. My 40-something brain only half works these days it seems.

After the vendor time ended at 6pm, we broke down everything in under 30 minutes. My husband and daughter showed up ready for dinner, so we packed up our car and then helped Brittany carry things to her vehicle in the back (this was when I learned we were supposed to park back there lol).

I was tasked with finding a random place to eat and I just picked something close with good reviews. We went to Flameburger near Columbia Heights since it seemed to have some decent ratings. It felt like we went back in time. My family wasn't to impressed by it, but I was pretty hungry so it probably tasted better to me because of that. Amazing how good things taste when you just skip lunch. I don't think we'll return, but it was decent enough.

What Worked & What Did Not

New layout was much better but the people in the back row lacked traffic that they should have had. One end was sort of blocked off by a pushy drink vendor and the other end just didn't actually look like it was an access point. 

Table costs still felt a little too high for not splitting a table. Knowing at $25 I made just under 5x my table costs means that if I had paid for a solo table at $50, I would have made just under 3x my cost. I shouldn't grouch so much, but to be fair, we are there to make money otherwise we'd be better off staying home.

Parking is free and that is always nice.

The weather kinda sucked. That was completely out of everyone's control so I am not blaming the event or anything for that. Just unlucky. It snowed from 4pm until sometime Sunday morning. We didn't get a ton of snow up by us, but others got a lot more. I think for us it was more windy than snowy. We got a few inches but that was it. The snow did make driving conditions a little slippery though, which was my main concern and probably why fewer people were in attendance.

Conclusion

I had a good enough time this year that I would consider returning. Since it's a one day event with a pretty short time commitment, it is mostly a social hour for me with some sales.

The Details (TLDR)