Craft Council Craft Fairs

The committee for the Fine Craft And Design Fair is currently contacting potential craft demonstrators for the St. John's (and West Coast) Craft Fairs.

If you have a recommendation of someone with experience or expertise in this area please contact Alexis Templeton at alexis@nf.sympatico.ca.

The Super 8 Hotel which is close on Higgins line has given us rates at $92.00 a night check out the website at www.super8stjohns.com or call (709) 739-8888. This offer is good to exhibitors and visitors coming to the Fair.

Wanda Cuff Young is coordinating the fair this year. Don’t hesitate to contact her if you have questions or concerns: 709.834.7977 or fair@craftcouncil.nl.ca

As you know, we are delighted this year to be holding the Craft Fair at the Arts and Culture Centre. There will be several other activities at the Arts and Culture Centre during the Fair. These continue to change; regularly updated information can be found at www.artsandculturecentre.com. The Fair has been advertised in the Arts and Culture Centre’s fall program “Showtime” and information will be posted in the box office area; a display with information about the Fair will set up in the mezzanine in October.

Donna Clouston has carefully drawn maps that show the general layout of the building, including entrances, exits, elevators, exhibitors’ lounge and washrooms. Maps indicating the location of parking lots have also been developed. These will be available shortly on our web page. Maps that will indicate booth allocations are also being drawn.

A special loading area has been designated for exhibitors during set up and take down, and for the unloading of materials. These are clearly marked on the maps. We will encourage all visitors to use the main entrance to the Arts and Culture Centre.

The Arts and Culture Center has lots of free parking. We have secured two additional lots for after 5:00 pm each weekday and all day on weekends: one on the campus of Memorial University at lot 15 and another at the provincial government office on Strawberry Marsh Road. These are within easy walking distance and are also free.

View map here to become familiar with parking locations.

The Craft Fair will be held in the three gallery spaces that previously served as the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador; during its first five days, the Fair will also located in the MMAP gallery. Some extra booth space may be located in the main floor mezzanine. As well, demonstrations, entertainment, children’s activities and food services will be in the upper and lower mezzanine areas.

The main rooms are all the same size, but do have some differences in terms of layout. These differences will be taken into account as the booth allocations are determined. One gallery space and the MMAP room are on the second floor, and the other two on the third; all are accessible by stairs and elevators. The rooms have good lighting, and Aliant will provide access to telephone and Internet lines for those who have requested it.

The committee has worked diligently with this space, and will do its best to accommodate the needs and preferences of exhibitors.

More than a dozen exhibitors have chosen to take part for the entire 10 days of the Fair; others have opted to participate for only five days. Consequently we will have two distinct Fairs. We will be sure that the program indicates which part of the Fair all currently registered exhibitors will be participating in. Signs at the Fair itself will indicate who is showing on which weekend.

This year there are two set up periods--

Tuesday, November 3^rd from 10am-10pm/ Wednesday, November 4^th, from 10am-2pm.

Tuesday, November 10^th from 10am-10pm/Wednesday, November 11^th, from 10am-2pm.

All exhibitors must be ready, with booths fully assembled and products displayed, by 2 pm each Wednesday of the Fair, for the visit of the Standards Committee.

We will have access to a trolley and there is a large service elevator that will take you to the second and third floors.

The Fair will be open the following hours:

Please be sure that your booth is open for all of the hours of the Fair.

Booth sitters can be arranged through the Craft Council. Fees are $6.00 per half hour and $9.00 per full hour. Please advise Wanda by October 28 if you will need booth sitters, so that she can schedule their times.

As in past years, the Craft Council will operate a Credit Card and Debit Booth.

Curtains and piping are being supplied but the new venue does not supply tables and chairs. Please take this into account when planning your booth. If you require tables or chairs for your booth, these can be ordered from Eastern Audio for a small fee. Please download the form to order what you need for your booth.

Acorn Catering (a division of Red Oak) operates the food service for the Arts and Culture Centre and has agreed to operate during the Fair; it will provide a variety of food that you can take to your booth or enjoy in the exhibitors’ lounge. We have focused on healthy and convenient food; vegetarian meals will be available. Bar services will be available some evenings.

The Public Library operates in the Arts and Culture Centre. They have a free Internet point that is available to anyone with a library card.

There is an ABM machine on site.

Admission to the Fair is FREE. We are, however, asking for donations (of non-perishable food items or money or turkeys) for the Community Food Sharing Association as part of our partnership with CBC.

We are in the process of seeking sponsors who have an interest in working with members and targeting the same market. To date we have confirmed CBC as a returning sponsor. We are pleased to welcome Coast 101.1 as a new sponsor; they will be working with us to develop a children’s activity program.

This year we will be printing 10,000 copies of the program. These will be distributed in the community before the Fair, as well as handed out at the Fair. The program will be different in nature this year, and will include the names of all exhibitors who have registered on time. These listings will be brief, and are free. Exhibitors may choose to have an enhanced listing in the program for a fee of $99.00. Information about this opportunity was circulated in early September. Don’t miss the chance to have detailed information and a picture of your work included in the program. Submit your information now!

We will have an on-site coat check.

As usual, there will be several craft demonstrations during the Fair. More details to follow.

The key to a successful Fair is to get the consumers to come, to buy and to come back again.

In an effort to achieve this, we are developing a promotional flyer. Several thousand copies will be printed and distributed in the vicinity of the Arts and Culture Centre; locations will include the Arts and Culture Centre itself, the Public Library, Memorial University, the Health Science Centre, the Confederation Building and the Marine Institute.

If you would like copies of this flyer or of the Fair poster to display in your business or in businesses near your home, please let us know. We will send you a package in early October.

We are also preparing a website button that you can post as a link on your website, and a camera-ready email that you can forward to your email database to invite your customers to the show. Please let Wanda know if you’d like the website button or the email for forwarding.

Consignment marketing members MUST notify the Shop of any product they wish to remove from the shop 14 days prior to the St. John’s / Corner Brook Fairs. Deadline for notification of removal will be October 23rd, 2009.

The Shop is involved in all aspects of these Fairs as well, and after this deadline staff does not have time to commit to inventory removal.

Important Note: We encourage all members to maintain a full display in the shop during the Fair. The store still sees strong traffic during the Fair as there is heightened advertising and awareness for the Craft Council in the weeks preceding it. When displays are emptied it diminishes the integrity of the Craft Council and ultimately sales and return customers are lost.

Packaging supplies will be available to purchase at the Arts and Culture Centre at set times prior to and during the 10 days of the Craft Fair. There will be a further update as these times are confirmed.

Please Note: Other packaging items such as gift boxes and large handled paper shoppers can be purchased at the Craft Council Shop during our business hours of 10–5 pm, Monday–Saturday, and 1–5 pm on Sunday. Please contact the shop for further information on available sizes.

Shop staff will be receiving stock at the Craft Council Shop, Sunday, November 15th, post Fair, from 6–9 pm.

All receiving will be done at the Craft Council Shop. There will be no one receiving work at the Arts and Culture Center.

All items MUST come with an invoice listing the item’s description, retail selling price and quantities. Due to the quantity of stock we receive, we WILL NOT accept stock without a completed invoice. We value all of our craftspeople, but we cannot make any exceptions to this rule.

Please keep any necessary tags attached – have product ready for immediate display.

Thank you in advance for all your efforts. These steps insure that your work makes it back out to the sales floor as quickly as possible, and that staff can get back to selling!

Please contact Shop Manager, Shannon Reid at 753-2749 or sreid@craftcouncil.nl.ca for any further information you may require.

Deadline for applications is August 21st, 2009. You can choose to do one five-day show, or two five-day shows; the application form outlines the cost for each option. A 10% discount has been factored in for those choosing the ten-day option.

The Fair Program is once again going to be published this year. It is a full-colour, magazine style program that is distributed approximately a month before the Fair and is used a the main promotional tool for the Fair.

There will be space for Exhibitors to create a small, more cost-effective ad listing in the Program to help direct customers to your booth. This discounted space is available exclusively to Exhibitors - spacing is limited. Book your spot soon!

For more information please download the rate card below or contact the Fair coordinator Wanda Cuff-Young at fair@craftcouncil.nl.ca.

Exhibitor's Rate Card

pdf

327 KB

Also,check out our CRAFT FAIR GUIDE for information on designing and managing your booth, and many other helpful tips and suggestions. Or phone us to have a copy sent to you.

CONTACT WANDA CUFF YOUNG

Craft Fair Co-ordinator

fair@craftcouncil.nl.ca