I will be doing my first nighttime pitch at an upcoming Fall Festival, which will run from noon to 9 pm.

In a visit to my local hardware store, I've seen $10 clip-on adjustable aluminum light fixtures that can take a 25 or 40-watt bulb. I have thought about putting one on each front side of my 10' square tent, by clipping them to the tent legs. Power would be from a Xantrex 200, which look like it might last about 90 minutes. I may or may not be able to access local AC, and have to be prepared for that posibility.

Any other suggestions or advice on lighting up my booth would be appreciated. I pitch Svengalis and Magic Worms, so I do need light, but not TOO much! SETH

Seth,
You'll need no less than two 100 watt bulbs.The best to get are the clip on halogen 300 to 500 watt.

You have to be light up and light up good.25 to 40 watt that you talked about are not even close to enough.

Hope this helped.

Don

Thanks, Don, there's nothing like "the voice of experience" !!

I was originally considering the two 25 or 40 watt bulbs because of the Magic Worms, I didn't want too much light on the thread work. But since I sell the worms all day long in the daytime (although in the shade), I guess lighting it up won't be that much different!

The clip-on units I looked at will handle up to 150 watts, so I could even use two 100-watt floods and still be well within the safety specs. But I might replace the present plastic lamp sockets with ceramic ones, seems like cheap insurance.

Thanks again Don, for the tips, they are much appreciated. I'll let you know how it all works out. SETH

Just wanted to let everyone know how things worked out on the nighttime Svengali Deck/Magic Worm pitch.

After some experimenting, I decided to go with two 75-watt bulbs, clipped on the front sides of my booth. This way, the light source would come from the sides. This was important for two reasons. First, I wouldn't have the lights in my eyes, so I could see the crowd. Secondly, because the light was coming sideways, it was running along the IT, as opposed to being perpendicular to it. This helped to cut down on light reflections from the IT.

And I was VERY glad that I lit up the booth, it was well worth it. Although the park itself was illuminated with large floodlights, the interiors of the individual booths were not lit up unless the vendors did it themselves. The booths that were lit gave off an inviting glow and were busy. The ones that were not lit looked dark and uninviting by comparison. I was busy until the festival closed at 9 p.m., while some of the other vendors packed it in at sunset or a hour or so later, for lack of business. So my $25 investment in clip-on floodlights and a couple of extension cords really paid off!

Thanks, Don, for the advice, it was helpful and much appreciated. SETH

Those clip-on lights have been a lifesaver for me many times. Glad it all worked out.

Mark.

I forgot to mention that I was able to plug into local power -- and for that reason brought along a surge protector. Since I didn't know exactly what I was plugging into, I didn't want any electrical surprises for my PA system. For another $25, I figured it was cheap insurance.

An added benefit was that I could plug all the lights and the PA into one unit, then plug that into the power source, so I didn't hog the available outlets, which were limited. SETH