Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s that time of year (sort of), when the Joys of Holiday Market return to the Market!
In all seriousness, Holiday Market is likely to be the only themed event we hold in 2020 – thus it is truly becoming one of our most-important events of the season. We’ve carefully pondered the event, and feel comfortable that it can be held in a safe and responsible manner. The air volume at the facility is enormous, they do a great job keeping the place clean/wiped down, and crowds have been manageable for the last several years (but with solid sales).
Changes for 2020:
- Santa will be taking the year off, having to deal with COVID19-imposed promotional travel restrictions at the North Pole.
- At least one of our food cooking events will be moving to the Holiday Market stage! A holiday-themed food competition sounds marvelous.
- Live music will be present, although the larger bands may be replaced with smaller/individual acts.
- A Lodge Cast-Iron pop-up store will be featured and promoted - our flagship sponsor has had a rough launch year, but they have been terrific and very supportive of us during the crisis. We are grateful.
- Vendors will be recommended (if not mandated) to wear face masks, and to place tarps/dividers between themselves and adjacent booths. Daily booth cleaning with sanitizers will be among the best-practices.
- Customers will be recommended (if not mandated) to wear face masks, too. It’s nice that other major retailers are now requiring face masks – it reduces the friction on us if we ask the same.
2020 Vendor Fees
As previously disclosed in the Holiday Market 2020 Poll, we are adding Fridays of each weekend as a setup day. While we hope that we can continue the tradition of remaining setup/in-place for the entire duration, we painfully experienced the exception last year and it was a bit of a mess. By reserving all three Fridays, we are guaranteed adequate reload/setup days for each weekend in the event that we are forced to load-out mid-festival.
The tradeoff for that preparation is that the venue fees/setup costs are proportionally higher. The total setup fee for the nine days will be $425/single booth, plus $50 electricity; the 10% sales commission will continue to be collected daily. There are two-and-a-half payment options available to you: pay in full, or a three-payment option of $150/month (the last payment would be adjust based on electricity needs and early bird deposit status).
Booth Sharing
The final “half” payment option is that booth sharing is allowed between two approved/eligible market vendors. If you want to participate but the fees seem out of your reach, and have a buddy who feels the same – we’re fine with you joining forces and share a booth together. One of you will be the “Primary” booth holder, and the other the “Secondary”. The Primary should go ahead and register/pay for the first installment as if they were attending solo, and we will prepare the follow-up invoices to split the balance.
There is no 3-payment option with a shared booth; there will be the initial registration payment, and a second set of invoices for the remaining balance (between the two approved vendors). Those second invoices will be due within 30 days (month 2), so it does spread out the payments a bit.
If you plan on sharing a booth, but have a question - please contact the help desk (help at publicmarkets.us) with the words Holiday Market in the subject.
Early Birds and Availability
We have approximately 190 vendor booths in our Holiday Market layout, and over half are already reserved by our Early Bird registrants. Starting this week, we will be sending the first round of invoices to our Early Birds. Invoices must be paid within 21 days to secure your spot; failure to pay may result in a loss of booth.. Abandoned early bird booths will be offered to those on the waiting list.
The remaining booths (in red, on the above graphic) will be offered online using our registration system very soon. I am working on an enhancement where you can select your booth location during registration, which will make everyone happy – less communication back/forth and instant gratification. The online registration for Holiday Market should go live next week.. This event typically sells-out, so I would encourage you to make your decisions early and not procrastinate on registration.
That’s about it. Thanks for your patience - I’ve been watching the news, policy updates and reflecting upon how we can operate Holiday Market safely and responsibly, thus things have taken a bit longer than normal. I really feel pretty good about this event, and feel that it will easily be our largest event of the season. If you have any questions, please email the help desk or speak with one of the market managers this weekend.