Pridefest 2023: Fayetteville Pride Event
Hello dearest Dreamers!
I hope that you are all having a wonderful Sunday! When this post goes live, I am currently set up at my monthly booth at Dirtbag Ale’s Farmer’s Market… but I just wanted to brag about my event yesterday!
Yesterday was my first time vending at the Fayetteville PRIDEfest… and y’all… it was so worth it!
You can check out my friend Rachel at StarStruck Pastels.
We got there around 0915 and I have to say that it was one of the most organized events that I had participated in, especially for one of that scale. There were over 90 vendors and like 5-10 food trucks on site. Unloading was perfect, I got to drive up near my spot, unload my truck, and then I moved my car to a nearby parking lot.
This event is held in Festival Park in the here of Fayetteville. This event was much bigger than I thought it would be, not even going to lie to you.
I signed up for this months ago, when it came across my timeline. I am always looking for new markets to try out, and for 2023, I made a goal to participate in 24 different markets (meaning 24 markets hosted by different companies/people). I figured why not give this event a try, since I am an ally.
Last month I met a new friend who makes the CUTEST Pride frogs and invited her to share a space with me.
It took Rachel and I a little while to set up, due to the heat, but it was fine because our setup time was about 3 hours before the event started. It takes Rachel like 15 minutes to set her frogs out, and I think it takes me about 30-45 minutes to set up, depending on how motivated/fast I am moving. It was pretty hot, so it took me longer than usual, but that is a-okay with me.
I found out that several of my vendor friends were also participating in this event. I saw several of my old friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, and I met some awesome people.
I gotta tell you something though…. the amount of love, good vibes, happiness, and just genuine people that I saw at this event… totally warmed my heart! Compliments were flying everywhere. People were so kind and loving. THERE WAS NO HATE TO BE FOUND (except maybe for the crazy weather that came in at the end). The Drag show was pretty awesome from what I saw too. I got so many compliments on my products that it was amazing.
10/10 would do this event again. I hope to do it again next year!
I debuted a couple of new products specifically for this event.
And this stuff was a hit, I gotta tell you. I sold out of my Be You pouches and had to make more last night for today’s market. I am low on the Choose Love and Spooky all year round cups.
My Pride Heart Stickers were a best seller too. People were so excited to see themselves represented, which makes my heart happy!
Remember that weather that I mentioned earlier? Well, it was supposed to be a beautiful day outside without no weather in sight (it’s rained ALL week so far). The last hour… man did the skies open up on us. Thankfully Rachel’s dad was there, dropping off batteries for our drill battery powered fans. The wind picked up really hard, so he grabbed the front of the tent and I grabbed the Rachel picked up all of my lighter items that flew off the table as the skies opened up and the rain came down in a downpour. A concerned customer helped Rachel collect her remaining frogs, before rushing over to my cup display and holding onto it for dear life because they were scared for me that my glass cups would come crashing down. I am eternally grateful for them and all the love to them as well for being so concerned for me! Rachel’s father also had the smart idea to drop the tent to the lowest level. Made it easier to hold on to the tent with the wind, protect everything from the rain (although I do package all my stuff in plastic sleeves just for that reason), and gave me a chance to pack everything up since we couldn’t sell anything at the moment anyways. A lot of other businesses copied our idea and dropped their tent down to protect their inventory and hold on to their tents (y’all, that wind was NUTS).
All in all, despite the last hour chaos, this was the BEST market that I have done in my career (okay, maybe except for last year’s 3 day German Christmas market… but it is right behind that one). It’s definitely the best single-day market I have done yet! I can’t wait to go back!
