Makers & designers

The short answer is, makers, artisans and designers who sell handmade products. Additionally, local businesses that make both packaged and prepared foods are welcome to apply. Please see above for specifics about which shows allow prepared food and/or food trucks.

However, we do not accept resellers of imported products, or non-profits representing crafters who will not be present at the show. Additionally, if you are applying to represent a collection of overseas artisans, this is unfortunately not the show for you. If your business falls into any of these categories you may be a more appropriate fit as a sponsor of our show. Please contact Kristen for more details.

While we don’t expect a photo of every single product you sell, you may only vend with the specific product lines and craft category that you applied with. For example, if you are accepted to the show to sell your line of pillows that you applied with, but two weeks before the show decide to expand your business to include bath salts, you will need to check with us before bringing those along to sell. The reason for this is that UCU is a very small and competitive show, and the curation of vendors is intended to reduce competition between vendors once accepted, to maximize sales for everyone. By introducing brand new products into the mix post-jurying, you may be inadvertently competing with another vendor at the show. If you do create a new product after the jurying process, you can submit photos to the UCU team for potential inclusion.

We only look at a small handful of websites during our jury process, and only when we are confused or don’t feel like we fully understand your work. We make our decisions based entirely upon your currently submitted photos and the information you provide in your application. That’s why we tell you that your photos are really, really, really important. Really.

Technically, yes… BUT: if we see the same photos each time you apply, we can be left with the impression that your work doesn’t change. Our job is to keep the show feeling fresh for our fans, so showing us your newest work is to your benefit.

Yes, for our big summer and winter shows at the Exhibition Hall, booth sharing is allowed. You will each need to fill out the application separately, and will be juried separately. If both of you are accepted, we’ll make split booth payment arrangements with you. If one of you gets in, but the other doesn’t, we will offer you a space of your own. Also, booth shares can only be 10 x 10 spaces. There will be a space on the application for you to indicate if you would like to share a booth with a friend.

Yep! We love all our past vendors but each show is a brand new venture, which can’t be accomplished without a brand new set of apps every time.

What you choose to apply for is entirely up to you — each show is juried independently from the others. You may also apply for multiple shows but only get in to one or some of them; it just depends on the applicant pool that you’re up against. We jury each show as a new venture, so how many shows you apply for makes absolutely no impact on our jurying process.

Just shoot us an email and let us know what you’d like to change. If you resubmit, we will delete the first application and use the second, but this gets confusing if you’re resubmitting days or weeks after your original submission. Much easier to change it on the back end so please just email us your amendments.

Not at all. As long as you’ve paid your application fee, your application will be in the database along with everybody else’s. At jury time we will sort all applications by category and jury each one in turn.

Great question! Please see our DEI and Impact Statement right here.

Part of what makes Urban Craft Uprising a successful show is the careful selection of vendors who we think will come together to make the most balanced and high quality show possible. With previous attendee surveys in hand, we sit down as a team to look at application info and photos and make decisions based on originality, aesthetic, marketability to both men and women, general appeal, and price range. We also consider the variety of the show overall, making sure that we don’t have too many similar items or vendors. Take a look at our past vendor list or Instagram to get a sense of the kinds of vendors we’ve had at previous shows.

We spend many hours jurying each and every one of our shows, with an intention to showcase a variety handmade work, and to host a diverse group of vendors.

First, we begin by jurying our BIPOC applicants, as self-identified on their application. That doesn’t mean that they will necessarily all get in, but it does mean that we consider their work before we’ve made any other decisions.

Next, for any of our neighborhood-based shows like Edmonds Spring Fest, Tacoma Spring Fest, Derby Days, etc., we jury any applicants who are local to that town or neighborhood.

There are many reasons why an applicant may not be a good fit for a specific show: photos play a key role in showing your work; some applications point to what we call “omni-crafters,” and while we enjoy a booth that covers a variety of categories, it makes it harder to jury, especially for our most competitive shows. To put things in perspective, we have an average acceptance rate of about 30%, so please don’t take it personally!

We also made the decision many years ago that 30% of our vendors at our large Summer and Winter UCU shows would always be new vendors who have never been with us before, so that there are always new makers to see and support, even for those who have been shopping at our shows for decades.

We offer FREE consultations to any BIPOC maker who has not gotten in to see how they can develop a more competitive application and are happy to see that this has helped many makers! To learn more, feel free to send us an email.

We are always open to discussion as well so if you have any questions about how we operate, feel free to contact us. We aim to reply to emails within 24-48 hours.

Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. We love all of our previous vendors but every show is a new show and we believe part of our continued success is that we always, always start entirely from scratch. Every show is curated based on the applicants who apply that go-round, and for that reason, each show has a slightly different feel and personality. In fact, we have made it a point to select at least 30% new vendors to each show to make the show fresh and exciting for our fans which has helped to continue our success.

The notification date will be stated in the first section of this page. On that date, you’ll receive an email letting you know whether or not you’ve been accepted to vend. We stick to what we say, so if you haven’t received your notification email by the end of the specified date, please check your spam or promotions folders, as the email may have slipped by! The email will be coming from info@urbancraftuprising.com. If you are expecting a notification email and don’t receive one, email us at the address above and we can re-send it to you. The most common reason for this is that you have mistyped your email address in your application, which means any notification letters or emails we sent to you are not being received.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications, we can’t give specific feedback to each person. When time permits, we will respond to respectful inquiries from applicants with details as best we can.

A Seattle City Business License is required for all businesses operating in the city of Seattle. If you do not already have one and your business is operational in the city, you should apply for one right away. All the info you need to do this can be found here.

Please note that this is different from your Washington State UBI. If you do not have a Washington business license but do participate in shows in the state of Washington, you are allowed TWO courtesy waivers each year, to attend shows without a license. After participating in two shows, you are required to obtain a Washington State business license.

Yes, absolutely! We are happy to have you on our end, but please do your due diligence in researching any issues that may come up with transporting your product across the border and/or generating revenue in the United States.

If you are accepted to the show and later decide that you are unable to participate, we will refund your booth fee in full, provided that you let us know six weeks before the show date. No refunds will be offered to vendors who drop out less than six weeks prior to the show.

You will be notified of the booth invoice due date in the first vendor newsletter you receive. Late booth fee payments will be subject to a late fee of 5% of the total booth fee, compounding weekly. If you have chosen not to participate in the show, simply ignoring the invoice is not the same as letting us know you are withdrawing. Please let us know as soon as possible if you are withdrawing so that we may offer your spot to another vendor with enough time for them to accept.

Yes, because of the huge time burden and publicity cost that goes along with withdrawing a vendor from the show so close to the show date, there is a $50 penalty in addition to forfeiture of you booth fee, for any vendor dropouts that happen within four weeks of the show. This is in addition to forfeiture of your booth fee. Please consider your ability to vend carefully before you commit to the show!

Yes. All vendors are responsible for paying their own sales tax for business conducted within Washington, regardless of whether they are Washington residents.

If you are an out-of-state vendor, you must register for a temporary UBI right here. They will send you a form that you’ll need to fill out immediately after the show is over to report your sales tax revenue.