What else do you sell at your market?
If it is mostly fresh produce, and you are open for the spring, summer and fall seasons, you could sell them as DIY gourds (do it yourself).
If you have other craft or decorative products, you should clean them and maybe prepare them for birdhouses, or actual functional items.
Why not try some finished and some not?

You won't know if you don't try!!

Jan

gourd friend i'm a crafter of gourds and when I purchace them, I prefer them as natural as possible. I would only brush the dried dirt from them and sell as is. Sell cracked and blemished gourds too, you would be surprized the many things a crafter can do with them. Good luck.

Just saw your question. I was in Lancaster County, PA last year in the fall and saw a lot of gourds for sale. The ones I saw weren't cleaned up and I thought the prices were reasonable. $5.00 - $6.00 a gourd. (It was in Amish Country.) There is always Ebay.

I'd finish only a few and sell the rest natural. That way you haven't invested a ton of time on something no one may want. The few that are finished can act as 'examples' for the unfinished. My guess is you'll sell both - finished ones to people who have the money but not the time nor inclination and unfinished to those like me who are creative but are short on $$. I'd mark the finished ones up quite a bit bearing in mind who is going to buy them.

Enjoyed all the comments here - I am new to gourding so found all the comments most interesting. I especially liked the post about selling the cracked gourds too as "you never know"! I was given a lot of gourds that most people would over-look and have had a ball "rescuing" them - learing how to fix cracks, weave to cover up holes and anything else you can think of! I love a challenge and it helps me learn!

By the way - HAPPY BIRTHDAY on the 19th to Tawnyap1 who was the original poster of this topic!

Rita in Michigan zone 5

I'm in the process of doing a road side stand also, but we have breezy/windy conditions most of the time!
I don't want to be chasing gourds down the road all day...

Any suggestions on how to present them for sale with out them taking flight?

I do have one large lilac bush that has been offering some protection, if the wind is from the right direction!

We sell all kinds of gourds including dried ones at our pumpkin/roadside stand.I usually just clean up the gourds after drying them and sell as is. I love crafters as you find them poking around looking for your gourd supply and taking an hour to find that perfect gourd. My biggest problem is I have my own personal supply of gourds in my garage and if somebody is looking for something different I usually end up giving up one of mine.
We display them either in bushel baskets with about 4 or 5 per basket or we tie them up with twine and hang them off our canopy. We keep them all displayed together.
Also we sell green, fresh gourds just picked off vine...like apple, gooseneck, speckled, warty, penguin,snake,bushel basket, and more.
A LOT of crafters will buy them to dry themselves.
We started out with just birdhouse gourds, swan and dippers and all we had was a table with a few gourds on it and bushel basket of mini birdhouse gournds.
After 5 yrs we keep getting more requests for different kinds and keep adding.
Good Luck!